The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Hot-shooting Bulldogs deal Westlake a blow
Balfour scores 19 as Olmsted Falls rebounds from loss
Olmsted Falls was red hot from deep as the Bulldogs rolled into Westlake and came away with a big 53-38 win on Jan. 25.
Coming off a strange week in which the Bulldogs set a team record for 3’s with 15 and a few days later going 1-26 from beyond the arc, Olmsted Falls once again found its groove and sank 10 triples to pull off the road win.
Led in scoring by junior Sarah Balfour with 19, Olmsted Falls used poise and good ball movement to keep Westlake defenders off the ball and open looks in multiple spots across the court.
“We can really shoot, yes, that is the case and our kids are very capable and it’s happened to us before in other games where we’ve had double-digit made 3’s,” Olmsted Falls coach Jordan Eaton said. “We tell them, we’re not much bigger than anybody and we’ve got to embrace the fact that we’ve got to take some 3’s and shoot them with confidence. We never tell any of our kids not to shoot them unless it’s a game situation where it’s crunch time and we need a layup or something.
“When they get hot, it’s a lot of fun.”
Getting a big boost from Balfour and sophomore Clare Kelly, who added 18, Olmsted
Falls got a special effort from both players to help get the upset.
“When (both are scoring) we’re usually in pretty good shape and the thing about them is they’re not just shooters, those kids are both really complete players,” Eaton said. “They work on their skills all year long, so they’re not just outside shooters. They both go right, they both go left, they both finish with both hands.
“They both make midrange jump shots and they both find their teammates and that’s just a testament to the work they put in during the offseason and those kids really enjoy basketball and they love improving.”
Balfour said this win came thanks to her and her teammates listening to what their coaches were preaching and executing.
“It’s so fun when we’re on it together because we’ve been playing for so long together and most of the games we’re either one or the other of us is on, and when we both are, it’s hard to beat our team,” Balfour said.
“Coach said to be the more-together basketball team, so that’s just what we did.”
As for the Demons, this loss will sting but it’s not something they need to dwell on as coach Art Daniels said. With the Southwestern Conference playoffs just around the corner, Westlake will just have to focus and bring it for the rest of the season.
Committing an uncharacteristic amount of turnovers, the Demons gave a lot of chances to the Bulldogs.
“We’ve just got to work harder. I mean we didn’t work hard today and that’s not typical for us,” Daniels said. “We didn’t execute the game plan and we didn’t work hard.”
Balfour said this win will be a big confidence boost for her team with just a handful of games left to go.
“This win will really boost our confidence since we came off a hard loss against Brunswick the other night where we shot the ball really poorly,” Balfour said. “Westlake’s a really good team, so I hope it’ll really boost our confidence.”
“Those kids are both really complete players.”
— Bulldogs coach Jordan Eaton