GALION — Shelby used a strong start to fuel a 65-29 win over Galion in Mid Ohio Athletic Conference girls basketball play on Wednesday.
The Lady Whippets (3-3, 2-1 MOAC) rolled to a 21-6 lead by the end of the first period and extended their advantage to 39-14 at halftime. Shelby controlled the second half, as well, outscoring the Lady Tigers 26-15 over the final two periods.
Shelby knocked down seven of its nine made 3-point field goal attempts in the first half, including five in the opening quarter of play. Six different players made 3-point shots for the Lady Whippets.
“That’s one of the things that we look for. We’ve got a lot of kids that can shoot the ball,” said Shelby coach Natalie Lantz. “Offensively that’s what we’re trying to do, is move the ball and draw two so it opens up a teammate (for a shot). … I thought our defense was a little sloppy today compared to what it’s been against some of the other quality teams that we’ve played. There was a lot of good effort.”
Junior Olivia Baker was one of three Shelby players to connect on two 3-point shots. She ended the game with a team-high 13 points.
Junior Sophie Niese scored 10 points. Senior Mary Mayer finished with nine points.
Sophomore Audi Albert and senior Sydnie Seibert each scored eight points. Sophomore Demi Hipp and junior Haylee Baker each hit two 3-point shots and finished with six points.
Galion coach Shani Rush said she was pleased overall with her team’s performance on Wednesday.
“We had some goals set for this game. We knew it was going to be a challenge for us,” Rush said. “From the first time we played them until now, I saw a lot of improvement. We kept our composure much better. The outome wasn’t what we wanted, but we reached some other personal and team goals that we had. We’re going to build off that. We’re going to build up for a win on Monday (against Ontario). Then we have some games coming up that I feel we can compete in and, hopefully, win some games, keep them close.”
Freshman Lexi Rush led the Lady Tigers (1-9, 0-5 MOAC) in scoring with 13 points. She scored 11 points in the second half, netting six in the third period. Rush had eight rebounds.
Junior Teanna Greter knocked down a pair of 3-point field goals and finished with eight points. She also grabbed seven rebounds.
Fellow juniors Natalee Perkins and Heaven Phelps chipped in two points each. Perkins’ stat line included seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Sophomores Dezi Lester and Kylie McKee each scored two points.
