Wilmington beat Bobcats, snaps 28-year playoff victory drought
Feb. 26—FARRELL — It was nearly three decades since the Wilmington girls basketball team won a playoff game.
However, that 28-year-long drought came to an end on Saturday afternoon at Farrell High School.
The Greyhounds beat Seneca 45-29 in the District 10 Class 3A quarterfinal. The Hounds advance to for a rematch with Greenville on Wednesday at Sharon High School at 7:30 p.m.
"I'm so happy for our seniors, especially," Wilmington head coach Mike Jeckavitch said. "Annalee (Gardner) and Maelee (Whiting) the hard work and leadership they provide for this team.
"They got this team to the first 20-win season in almost 20 some years as well. Kudos to the girls and the hard work they've been putting in all season."
It was an off shooting day for Wilmington guard Lia Krarup. She led all scorers with 19 points, but she shot 8-for-27 from the floor.
Reese Bruckner was there to fill some of the scoring void in the first half. The freshman forward scored all 12 of her points in the 16 minutes of play.
"Playing fast, getting up, that's how we all start," Bruckner said. "The coaches were a big help cheering me on, too."
Wilmington (20-3), who extended its winning streak to seven games, jumped on Seneca early. The Hounds started the game on an 8-0 run. The Bobcats (13-10) got on the board with a layup by Abby Wisniewski with 4:25 left in the first quarter.
The Greyhounds led 13-4 by the end of the first. Bruckner scored the final seven points of the first to create some breathing room for the Hounds.
"Reese really stepped up," Jeckavitch said. "Lia was struggling a little bit with her shot tonight. She was a little bit off. Maybe it was the layoff that we've had — not having a game in over a week.
"I know Lia's a competitor, and we'll work on that craft and we'll get her back to where she needs to be. I thought our other girls did a nice job of stepping up when she wasn't scoring to provide us that spark that we need."
The advantage grew to 24-9 midway through the second, and Krarup started finding her rhythm in the second quarter. She scored seven points in the period, and the area's leading scorer added 10 points in the second half to power the offense.
The Bobcats never could string together enough offense to make an attempt at comeback.
"Our defense was suffocating and turning them over at an alarming rate," Jeckavitch said. "That's what we do, we let our defense create our offense."
It's been a season unlike many in Wilmington. The Greyhounds earned their first league title since 1995. That season was the last time they advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
That was until Saturday afternoon.
"It's really fun having a team like this because we all work so well together," Bruckner said.
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SENECA 4 9 8 8 29
WILMINGTON 13 14 7 11 45
SENECA — Bleil 0-0-0-0, M. Konkol 4-0-0-10, L. Konkol 2-0-4-4, Hinds 0-0-0-0, Peterson 0-1-2-1, Dernar 0-0-0-0, Hammil 1-4-8-6, Wisniewski 2-4-5-8. 3-pt. goals: M. Konhol 2. Totals: 9-9-19-29.
WILMINGTON — Krarup 8-1-1-19, Phanco 0-0-0-0, Dieter 0-0-0-0, Jeckavitch 1-1-2-3, Bruckner 5-2-4-12, Flick 0-0-0-0, Brewer 0-0-0-0, Gardner 3-1-2-7, Whiting 2-0-0-4. 3-pt. goals: Krarup 2. Totals: 19-5-9-45.