Lake County Sentinel
Lady Devils end playoff drought with 42-27 win over Independence
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(WICKLIFFE, OH) - On Wednesday night at the Campus of Wickliffe the Wickliffe Lady Devils basketball team ended a long drought of not winning a post season game. The last time Wickliffe won a post season game was the 2015-16 season. Wednesday night, the Lady Devils (16-5) welcomed Independence (9-13) for their first-round sectional matchup. The game was close for three quarters and the Lady Devils of Wickliffe pulled away winning the contest 42-27 and advancing to the sectional final on Saturday in Smithville against the Smithies (15-7).
The game was low scoring in the first quarter with the lead changing four times with Independence leading 7-6 after the first eight minutes. Wickliffe Junior Ava Gabriel led all scorers with four points in the first quarter. Junior Addison Walker led Independence with three points. A big reason for the low scoring first quarter was mistakes as each team turned the ball over six times, nerves, possibly?
Both teams took care of the ball better in the second quarter with seven combined turnovers (Wickliffe 3, Independence 4). The tide began to turn at the five minute mark of the quarter with Wickliffe up 8-7 Gabriel was fouled. To that point Wickliffe was 0-3 from the foul line, Gabriel hit both and Wickliffe did not miss another free throw the rest of the game hitting 14 straight. Wickliffe finished the night 14 of 17 from the charity stripe. When the second quarter buzzer sounded Wickliffe had their largest lead of the night to the point at 18-14. Gabriel led Wickliffe with 10 points at the halftime break. Sophomore Elyse Grill paced Independence with four first half points. At the break Wickliffe had turned the ball over nine times and Independence had turned it over 10.
Both teams started the second quarter playing great defense, as neither team scored until the 4:02 mark when Independence cut the Wickliffe lead to 18-16 when Senior Rini Makena dropped in a layup for the only shot from the field Independence hit in the quarter. Wickliffe’s defense clamped down even harder and held Independence to just one more point, on a free throw at the 1:41 mark of the third quarter. Gabriel owned the quarter offensively for Wickliffe scoring all nine Wickliffe points. Gabriel after the game pointed our how her teammates played great defense by saying, “defense means everything, Gabby (junior, Gabby Irvin) stepped up, I mean everyone stepped up.” Wickliffe Coach Jason Moulton added about the defensive effort, “They work so hard, they take so much pride defensively in everything they do. We preach that basketball is a two way sport, you have the offense, but you can control the defense. You might not be making shots, but you can defend.” He went on to say, “Gabby Irvin is incredible defensively, she walls people off. She’s so fast, she’s so athletic, she just gets her hands on everything.” As the quarter ended Wickliffe held their largest lead to that point, a double-digit lead at 27-17. Gabriel paced everyone with 19 points after three. Grill and junior Paige Priebe led Independence with four points each.
Wickliffe finished things off in the fourth quarter. With a ten point lead with 4:01 left Moulton called a time out. Immediately after the timeout the ball was inbounded to senior Eliza Wills and she darted right through the paint to the basket, hitting the layup giving Wickliffe a 32-20 lead with 3:56 left and ending any momentum that Independence had built. Independence did cut the Wickliffe lead to eight at 32-24 with 3:02 left, but Independence’s strategy of fouling and hoping Wickliffe missed free throws failed as Gabriel was fouled on four different occasions going 8 of 8 from the free throw line from the 2:54 mark ended any hopes for Independence.
Gabriel finished with 27 points. Priebe paced Independence in the losing effort with 11 points. While Wickliffe excelled at the free throw line, Independence struggled hitting only 8 of 19.
Wickliffe will be in action on Saturday for the Division III Sectional Final in Smithville at 1 pm.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 02/21/2023 03:35
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Photo by Rebecca Shirer
