West Branch tops Salem
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BELOIT -- Any time the Salem Quakers and West Branch Warriors face off, it's an exciting affair. The Warriors, however, maintained their early-season dominance en route to a 49-23 victory over the Quakers in girls basketball action Wednesday night.
The win improves the Warriors to 6-0 overall on the season and 5-0 in the Eastern Buckeye Conference. The Quakers fall to 2-5 overall, and 1-4 in the league.
"I think it's really cool that we have been able to work this shard and be at the point that we are at," senior guard Chloe Dennison said. "It means a lot to us because we have been working so hard over the summer."
"It's a credit to the girls," Warriors head coach Walt DeShields added. "We had a great offseason starting back to this past summer. We have gotten a lot better as a team as a whole. We also have great depth."
The Warriors utilized a 30-5 scoring margin in the second half of the game to pull away from the Quakers after the two teams battled back and forth in the first 16 minutes of the contest. The Warriors only held a slim one-point advantage at the intermission.
"The first hal,f to be only down one or two at halftime, we were happy. We stuck to the game plan, but in the second half they sped us up a little bit," Quakers coach Tracey Miller said.
Gregory would score a game-high 25 points and grab 11 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead the Warriors on the night. Dennison was the only other double-digit scorer with 10 points in the game.
"Definitely the size difference helped a lot," Gregory explained. "Then my teammates with their passing get them open. We know how to do that very well."
Following a basket by the Quakers' Maddy Andres midway through the third quarter, which brought the score 25-21 in favor of the Warriors, the game quickly swung in the Warrior's favor. Dennison would drill back-to-back treys, followed by a layup at the 1:18 mark of the period to propel the Warriors to a 33-21 advantage. The Warriors would close the frame with a bucket by Livvie Showalter to carry a 35-21 lead at the close of the quarter.
"At halftime, we just talked about how our defense was doing well and we just needed to work together and step it up on offense and prove ourselves," Dennison said.
"They (Quakers) had a great first half and a good game plan. It was just a matter of us communicating better, being in the gaps better, and kept them out of the lane," DeShields added. "We also finished with rebounds and limiting them to just one shot."
A three by Audrey Eaton, followed by another basket by Dennison and Gregory had the Warriors doubling up the Quakers at 42-21 by the 5:18 mark of the fourth period. They would go on to outscore the Quakers 7-2 in the final five minutes of the contest to reach the 26-point final margin.
The final score is somewhat misleading in that the first half of the game was a tight, back-and-forth affair with the Quakers holding their only lead on the night 5-2 following a three by Lauryn Barton just a couple of minutes into the contest. The Warriors would fight back to hold an 11-7 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
However, the Quakers would knot the game at 11-11 at the 6:55 mark of the second period when Rylee Hutton knocked down two free throws. The Warriors would go on an 8-2 run to stretch and seized a 6-point 19-13 lead before baskets by Riley Flickinger and Barton cut the margin to just 1 at 19-18 going into the halftime break.
Barton led the Quakers with eight points to take high-scoring honors. Barton and Hutton would each grab five caroms to lead the Quakers on the boards.
"I thought we played hard, and we played physical," Miller said. "The second half got away from us. They are undefeated for a reason. I was proud of the way we played the first half."
It doesn't get any easier for the Quakers as they host an always tough opponent in the Canfield Cardinals on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors also return to the court on Saturday to entertain the Louisville Leopards in nonconference action.
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