Woodridge girls basketball recovers from loss by smashing Coventry
The Woodridge girls basketball team was running on all cylinders Jan. 18 in a 59-22 rout on the road over Metro Athletic Conference rival Coventry.
The Bulldogs, who improved to 12-2 overall and 7-2 in the MAC, led 12-7 after one quarter, 27-14 at halftime and 42-15 after three quarters.
“I was really pleased with our performance considering the snowstorm the day before when we didn’t get an opportunity to practice. We brought the girls in for a shootaround early the day of the game,” Woodridge head coach Chris Nauer said. “The girls were focused with the mindset that we needed to go out and compete. We put four quarters together and followed a good game plan. We had 10 girls score for us.”
Pacing the visitors was junior guard Leah Mencer with 22 points, including three three-pointers.
“Leah came out and in the first 30 seconds of the game had a three ball, and she didn’t look back,” said Nauer. “Offensively, her shots were falling. She competes on both ends of the floor. It was really nice to see her have a big game.”
Sophomore guard/forward Cameron Hoover scored 11 points, including a three-pointer.
“Cameron continues to play at a high level,” Nauer said. “She had good inside presence. She knocked down a three-pointer, which was good to see. She also had a bunch of rebounds.”
Junior guard/forward Anna Rorrer scored seven points, including a three-pointer, while sophomore guard Reese Reaman contributed six points.
“I think Anna’s defense sparks her offense. She continues to play at a high level,” said the coach. “We put either her or Izzy Best, a senior guard, on the opponents’ best offensive players. Anna is a competitor. She competes every night, gets to the basket and good things come from that.
“Reese came off the bench with less than two minutes to go in the game. She had two nice three balls down the stretch. When some of our junior varsity girls get some minutes like that, our bench explodes. When Reese hit those two threes, everybody was up cheering. I think that says a lot about our program. The girls care about each other, they play for each other and they really feed off the success of others.”
Five nights earlier, on Jan. 13 at home against Norton, Woodridge had a chance to forge a first-place tie with the Panthers in the MAC. However, the Bulldogs ran into a buzz saw in falling 53-24.
“Norton is very disciplined, they’re well-coached,” Nauer said. “They’ve been in a lot of big games. In the last four years, their senior class, led by Bailey Shusta, has played in two district championships and two regional games. Shusta has been All-State for three years. They come out and really execute their game plan.
“The first game we played them, they pressured us in the full court. We did a really good job. We didn’t turn the ball over as much. But they threw some different defenses at us in the half-court in this game, the man-to-man trap, and that kind of got us.
"We turned the ball over a few times, and that hurt us. Norton makes it really hard for opponents to get into a half-court offense. That’s what good teams do. There was kind of a lid on the bucket for us, too.
“I was really proud of our girls, though. They competed for four quarters, they never give up and compete until the final buzzer. That says a lot about our program and our players.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Woodridge girls basketball recovers from loss by smashing Coventry
