Cold shooting dooms Eastwood

0

WHITEHOUSE — No. 2-seeded Eastwood girls basketball struggled to get anything going on offense Thursday
night, and fell 53-27 to No. 3-seeded Delta in district semi-finals.
The game was the second of a double-header of district semi-finals played at Anthony Wayne.
Delta’s Brooklyn Green scored the first bucket of the game and never looked back. Green led all scorers
on the night with 16 points.
After that first bucket, more poured in from the Panthers as they started off the game on a 11-2 run
before Eastwood called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Eagles were able to find some success attacking the zone defense of Delta. Paige
Rost found herself in the middle of the Panther defense and was able to make a tough finish to start off
an 8-0 run by the Eagles to end the quarter.
Delta still led 12-10, and the 10 points from Eastwood was the most they were able to net in a quarter
all night.
Both teams traded buckets in the second quarter, with neither establishing momentum. Delta led 20-16
going into the locker rooms.
Both teams combined for just one 3 in the first half. It came early in the first quarter from Delta’s
Ella Ross.
Eastwood came out of halftime looking like they were going to right their shooting wrongs. Freshman Kayla
Buehler knocked down a 3 for the first basket of the half.
Eastwood didn’t knock down another the rest of the game.
“For us offensively, we couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean, not even if we were on a boat in the
middle of it. We’re gonna have those nights and you hope it’s not a night like tonight in a big game
where you need to make outside shots but credit to Delta. That was their game plan, to make us hit
shots,” Eastwood head coach Nick Schmeltz said.
Delta’s zone defense continued to give the Eagles problems in the second half and without the outside
shooting, Eastwood didn’t have many options.
Delta picked things up on offensively in the second half, and got to the free throw line often. Their top
three scorers from the night in Green, Reagan Rouleau, who had 13, and Braelyn Wymer, who had 10,
combined for 10 of the 11 free throws made by the Panthers on the night. Eastwood knocked down just four
free throws.
The Panthers ran away with the game in the second half as Eastwood only mustered 11 points, while the
Panthers scored 34.
“We had three days to prepare, I thought we were ready coming into the night but that happens when you
have good teams, skill teams like Delta. They can kind of pick you apart. We mixed it up, we tried
zoning, tried going man to man and credit to Delta they tore us up,” Schmeltz said.
The loss marks the final game for four Eastwood seniors. Reegan Sheets, Jaylee Souder, Hannah Friend and
Emma Finley. The Eagles finish 18-6 on the season.
“Jaylee Souder, she’s the one that started all 21 games for us this year so we are going to miss her
presence. But then we have a good group,” Schmeltz said. “For four years these girls have been here,
they’ve won over 70 games in their careers, made it to three district semi-finals so it’s a great group.
They are good basketball players but they are even better people.”
None of the seniors scored in the game. Aubrey Haas was the only player in double figures for the Eagles,
with 11 points. Buehler added seven.
With the win Delta moves on to play Elmwood in the District Finals on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Anthony
Wayne.
DELTA 12 8 14 19 — 53
EASTWOOD 10 6 5 6 — 27
DELTA
Green 5-1-3—16; Rouleau 3-1-4—13; Braelyn Wymer, 2-1-3—10; Ford, 1-1-0—5; Brooklyn Wymer, 2-0-1—5; Weber,
1-0-0—2; Olivia Smith, 1-0-0—2; Burres, 0-0—0; Demaline, 0-0—0; Haas, 0-0—0; Munger, 0-0—0; TOTALS:
15-4-11—53
EASTWOOD
Haas, 4-0-3—11; Buehler, 2-1-0—7; Luidhardt, 2-0-0—4; Rost, 1-0-1—3; M. Souder, 1-0-0—0; J. Souder,
0-0—0; Ward, 0-0—0; Ameling, 0-0—0; King, 0-0—0; Sandberg, 0-0—0; Friend, 0-0—0;TOTALS: 10-1-4—27

No posts to display