Lady Wolves get control early, rout Sheridan
PEARCY — An aggressive Lake Hamilton team kept Sheridan away from the rim Friday, walking away with a 70-37 win at Wolf Arena.
“I was extremely pleased with how we shared the ball and played together,” Lake Hamilton head coach Blake Condley said. “We put together a plan, and the girls went and did exactly what we asked them to do. We were able to create some easy scoring opportunities with our defense. It also helped making five out of six from behind the 3-point line.”
The Lady Yellowjackets managed to keep pace with the Lady Wolves for a 5-5 score within the first few minutes, but the hosts surged past behind Audri Winfrey, Aspen Thornton and Ginny Higginbotham for a 12-5 lead before Sheridan called a timeout.
Lake Hamilton didn’t slow down as Hayleigh Wyrick nailed back- to- back 3- pointers and Thornton punched in a putback to make it 20-5. Ending the Lady Wolves’ 15-point run after another Sheridan timeout, Claire Denney spotted Kylie Reed inside for a bucket as Brooklyn Rowe tacked on another to narrow the spread to 11 points. Each team added another 3 before Wyrick capped the scoring in the first period for a 25-12 lead.
“I would’ve liked to have played better defense,” said Sheridan head coach Jamison See
Ingram. “Lake Hamilton’s a very good offensive team. They play well defensively. Coming off of a break, it’s a hard game to open up to after you’ve been on a break. We’re a very young basketball team, and Lake Hamilton has a lot of experience. That showed tonight. I thought we handled certain aspects of tonight well. We’ve definitely got to rebound better. There’ll be a lot to learn from this game of things that we need to do to grow and to improve as a basketball team.”
The Lady Wolves opened the second period on an 11- point run, rallying behind Higginbotham and Winfrey, before Denney lifted a layup with 4:23 until halftime. Closing out the first half on a 10-8 run, the Lady Wolves maintained a 46-22 edge heading into intermission.
The Lady Yellowjackets could not keep control of the ball, allowing Lake Hamilton to grab steals and hit a 7-point run at the start of the second half. Kayden Porter finally found net on a pair of free throws with 5:23 on the clock for 55-24.
Sheridan remained scoreless for the remainder of the quarter as the Lady Wolves kept at it, enacting the sportsmanship rule with a 66-27 lead at the end of the third with Taylor Humphreys delivering a buzzer-beating trey.
The visitors found some energy in the final stanza, outscoring the Lady Wolves 10-5 as Sheridan’s Kelsey Rieman sealed the final with a set of free throws.
Thornton paced the Lady Wolves with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and a block. Winfrey also finished with 15 points, three boards and a steal. Wyrick finished with 13 points, three boards, three assists and three steals, and Higginbotham added 11 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Denney put up 8 points for the Lady Yellowjackets. Rowe came away with 7 points and Reed came away with 6 points.
Lake Hamilton travels to Lakeside on Tuesday with the junior varsity starting at 5 p.m. In order to prepare for the Lady Rams, the Lady Wolves are focusing multiple aspects of the game.
“Defensive communication, footwork, working together, moving the ball on offense, and playing every play as hard as possible until the whistle to name a few,” said Condley. “All those things lead us towards improvement and that’s our focus right now. What can we do to get better and just working on those specific things.”