Reprinted courtesy of:
The Tipton Tribune
By GENE F. CONARD
SHARPSVILLE — In a contest that is normally billed as basketball but quite
often resembled Saturday Night Wrestling, Tri-Central’s Lady Trojans chalked up
their first season win after two previous losses by subduing a visiting Sheridan
crew, 55-36, here Saturday night.
With all 11 performers contributing either points, rebounds, assists or steals,
Coach Kathie Layden’s Lady Trojans made their point early on by rushing to a
17-4 lead at the first stop.
It grew to 32-14 at halftime and 44-23 after three segments before the Lady
Blackhawks, now 0-2, gained the upper hand in the final segment, 13-11, when
Layden turned things over to her bench.
The Trojans improved their shooting eye with 23-of-53 (.434) floor accuracy,
largely due to 8-12 and 7-17 (15-29, .571) first-half firing. The numbers dipped
to 4-13 and 4-11 (8-24, .333) in the final two segments, but with the Hawks
going an anemic 5-13 (.385) the first half and 8-22 (.364) the last half for an
overall 13-35 (.371) the outcome was never in doubt.
“I was concerned about our intensity at the start,” Layden said afterward, “but
we came out aggressively and played with the tempo we wanted. It was great to
get everybody involved, and we had only two girls, Kelly Walter and Rachel
Hewitt, play more than 20 minutes which showed how versatile we can be.
“Kelly had a tremendous game, hitting 9 of 15 shots. And they just weren’t
layups, she was hitting from everywhere including 3 of 3 on 3-pointers. She was
just as impressive on defense.”
As to TC’s 17 turnovers, she remarked: “We had a tendency to play too fast which
caused several poor passes, mostly due to poor judgment. We want to push the
ball upcourt, but we want to do it under control. But overall I was pleased.”
This was a rough and tumble contest that saw players on the floor in practically
every possession, a fact the three game officials seemed oblivious to or chose
to ignore.
Tri-Central senior veteran Morgan Suiters went crashing to the floor midway
through the second half, struck her head, was completely unaware of where she
was and had to be helped from the floor. She was taken to Tipton Hospital for
observation, was later released and was in school this morning.
Walter hit 6 of 7 first-half shots, including two treys, and Suiters, Jessica
Cage and Taylor Farris had two baskets each to help TC to the 32-14 halftime
spread.
The Trojan defense forced 12 Sheridan turnovers the first half, limiting the
visitors to five baskets.
The TC lead reached 42-18 midway through the third and the gap was 55-30 near
the end.
Walter led the Trojans with 21 points, five rebounds, three assists and seven
steals, and Hewitt added nine points, five assists and three steals to go with
the six markers and five rebounds of Suiters and the five markers of Briana
Humphries.
Jaidlin Delph led Sheridan with 14 points and six rebounds, and Linden Diass had
13 points and eight rebounds.
Coach Andy Burnette’s TC reserve team walloped the Blackhawk JVs, 52-8. Rachel
Parsons had 10 points, Whitney Shaffer added eight, Morgan Burke had seven and
Libby Kimbrough and Addy Takacs had six apiece.
TC visits Northwestern Saturday night as part of the annual Trojan-Tiger varsity
boy-girl matchup. The tipoff for the Lady Trojan-Tiger game is 6 p.m., and the
boys follow at 7:30.
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