Botkins girls use defense to defeat Versailles
BOTKINS — In a defensive battle, homestanding Botkins defeated Versailles 35-25 in non-league girls basketball action Tuesday night.
Botkins improved to 8-3 overall with the win, while Versailles fell to 2-8 with the loss.
The Trojans led 10-8 after a close first stanza as Carmen Heuker canned a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to put the hosts ahead for good.
Botkins inched ahead 17-11 at intermission, and extended the margin to 27-16 after three quarters.
“The game plan was to limit their inside game, they are a big team,” said Botkins head coach Brittany Butler. “We did a really good job of eliminating their inside game.
“We did a really good job on the boards,” she continued. “We started a little sluggish, but adjusted well to the physicality and their pressure. The girls sat down well on defense and held them to just three points total in the second quarter.”
Heuker led the victors with 19 points. Camdyn Paul added six markers on two three-point goals.
Jenna Dirksen topped Versailles with 12 points.
“It wasn’t a great night shooting-wise, but we found other ways to score off the dribble and on backdoor cuts,” Butler added.
Botkins plays at Parkway (8-2) Jan. 3.
Allen East 53, W-G 34
HARROD — The visiting Waynesfield-Goshen girls basketball team fell behind 11-0 to Allen East and despite scrapping all game, never quite caught up and lost 5334 to the tournament hosts in the semifinals of the Border Battle tournament Tuesday night in Harrod.
The Tigers fell to 2-8 with the defeat. Meanwhile, AE improved to 6-4 with the victory.
“We did a really good job on the boards, we had 53 rebounds,” said W-G head coach Jocelyn Hennon. “We
just made way too many turnovers against their press and beat ourselves. The majority of their points came off turnovers.
“We gave great effort to the end,” she continued. “We need to shoot more and be less unselfish. And we need to handle pressure better.”
The Mustangs led 11-4 after one quarter as fullcourt pressure caused several Tiger turnovers.
W-G battled back within 15-9 behind a Taylor Spencer trifecta.
But then AE freshman guard Rilynn Jones took over. She hit a driving layup and a triple, then sank a one-footed runner for a 22-9 lead.
The Tigers hustled back into the game with a 6-0 run. Two foul shots by Chloe Baumgardner cut the deficit to 25-17 at halftime.
Kapri Wilson’s putback to open the third period sliced the lead to six, but Kennedy Truex scored eight straight points to keep AE ahead. Wilson drained a triple, and a Raegan Hutchison layup cut it to 39-24 after three periods.
Senior Chloe Baumgardner topped W-G with 17 reounds. Freshman Hutchison paced the Tigers with nine points. Spencer added seven rebounds and six points.
The speedy Jones led all scorers with 15 points. Savana Brooks contributed a dozen points for AE.
Waynesfield-goshen plays league foe USV in the fourth annual Border Battle third-place consolation game Thursday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. The Rams lost to Ada in the first semifinal, 5118.
W-G beat USV by 14 earlier in December. “We just have to focus and play our game with intensity,” said Hennon.
The Mustangs host backyard rival Ada (38) in the tournament title game Thursday at 6 p.m.