Wynford girls open tournament play with a win, sets up rematch with rival Colonel Crawford
MONROEVILLE - With four seniors at the core of the Wynford girls basketball team, coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon wanted to ensure they had an opportunity to make this postseason a special one.
And with Wednesday's 42-28 win over No. 6 Western Reserve in a Division III sectional semifinal, the No. 7 Royals get just that.
"They went 16-0 in their league and won a championship," Taylor-Sheldon said. "So far we beat the best team in the MOAC [River Valley], we beat the best team in the N10 [Buckeye Central], we beat the best team in the Firelands [Western Reserve].
"I want us to have a chance to play at that level (for a championship)."
Wynford has the chance to play for its first sectional championship since the 2018-19 season Saturday evening against rival Colonel Crawford. It will be the third meeting between the teams having split in the regular season each picking up a win on the other's court.
"They know everything about us, we know everything about them," Taylor-Sheldon said. "We've battled both times and may the best team win."
Wednesday night the Royals started strong taking a 10-7 lead into the second quarter before stretching that to 11 at 18-7. Western Reserve was able to claw back closing out the half on a 10-2 run and head into the intermission trailing by three, 20-17.
Senior Katie Wagner had 10 of her 11 points and six of her 11 rebounds in the first half. And though she cooled off in the second half, classmate Reese McGuire got the hot hand and finished with a game-high 15 points.
A 13-7 third quarter in favor of Wynford was followed by an 11-4 fourth to cap off the win for the Royals.
"We were ready to play today," Taylor-Sheldon said. "We planned our work, we worked our plan. We had some lapses, as we have all year, but Katie had a great first half, then Reese hit some big shots in the second half. We were able to hit some perimeter shots and were able to consistently defend by communicating on screens."
Wagner was crucial in the opening half and even into the second going up against Western Reserve's bigs, Bella Thornburg and Kathleen Woodruff who stand at 6-foot-3 and 5-foot-9 respectively.
"She has gotten better and better at that all year in terms of size," Taylor-Sheldon said. "I think she could've quickly gotten frustrated, but she didn't and that has been part of her growth. In terms of blocking out and trying to wall up and do the best we can on someone who has seven or eight inches on her, she was up for the challenge."
Zoe Whitmeyer added seven points, Grace Stucky had three points and six rebounds, Maradath Engler three points and five assists, Alexis Stevely two points and five rebounds.
"We play seven all year and all seven were able to contribute in one way or another to give us a chance to win a championship," Taylor-Sheldon said.
A spot in the district semifinals is on the line Saturday night when the Eagles and Royals meet at 6 p.m. back at Monroeville High School.
Galion runs into top-seed
In a 1-v-12 matchup, Galion coach Carson Early knew what his Tigers were getting into against two-time defending district champion Margaretta.
Even though the Polar Bears dominated from the opening tip all the way to a 72-17 win, the Tigers never quit battling up until the final buzzer when most teams would've packed it in at halftime.
"We knew coming in with the No. 1 seed, we told the girls to keep their heads up and keep fighting," Early said. "We knew it would be a rough season anyways going in, we've talked about being young and nothing was going to come easy. It's just another step and we have to keep continuing.
"This is a good matchup so we can see (where we are) and next year if we matchup with them again we can see where we've improved."
And it was already and unexpectedly emotional week for Galion.
"It was a little rough, Paige Beach lost her mom," Early said. "So having the funeral and everything was rough. And it didn't just affect her, it was the whole team."
But Beach mustered up the courage to not only don the Tigers uniform Wednesday night, she was one of the most used players on the court even managing to drain a corner 3 in front of her bench in the second half.
"We were really supportive and glad she wanted to play in this playoff game," Early said. "It's just something that happened in our season and we rolled with it. We're always there for each other and that's part of the thing about never quitting."
Dezi Lester led the way with nine points, Audrey Glew and Cameron Eckert added two points apiece, Bianca White had one.
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Wynford girls win tournament opener, Galion exits early
