GREENVILLE – A very good West Carrollton team took advantage of an uptempo game to hand a shorthanded Lady Wave team a 49-28 MVL loss in Wednesday night play.
“West Carrollton’s athleticism is just at a different level,” said Greenville coach, Rachael Kerns. “We could only compete so well compared to how athletic they were.”
“Playing four girls who played more JV minutes than they have varsity minutes and you put them out there against a team like this, they’re going to expose a lot of weaknesses,” Kerns added. “We have to control the things we can control and get better in the areas we can.”
The Lady Wave continues to play without Megan Lind, the team’s leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, out with an earlier injury.
“2024 hasn’t been very kind to us,” Kerns stated. “I don’t know if, in the last eight games, we have had our whole roster able to play. Got another message today one of our girls who has been having major minutes didn’t get to come, she wasn’t feeling good. It’s kind of making its rounds and it’s hard to adapt when we don’t get to practice the day before we are going to have a game.”
West Carrollton bolted out to a 9-0 lead at 6:19 in the opening quarter before Avery Baumann knocked down a 10-foot jumper with 5:32 on the first-period clock for a 9-2 score.
The Lady Pirates led 18-7 after one-quarter of play with Baumann accounting for five Lady Wave points including a 3-pointer and Elsie Fugett going 2-2 at the free throw line.
“Avery Baumann the last three games has played the way I thought she was going to come in and play,” Coach Kerns said. “Her composure has been better, she’s shooting the ball a little bit better. Proud of how far Avery has come this season. Mentally a lot of people don’t know what it’s like recovering from ACL surgery. It was hard and she is doing a good job. She could have bagged the season but she hasn’t.”
The Lady Pirates took advantage of its speed and athleticism with 5’7” senior guard, Selena Frost hitting for 12 second-quarter points to go along with her seven first-quarter points in leading Carrollton to a 20-6 second period sending the teams to the break with the Lady Pirates holding a 38-13 point advantage.
“Their No. 1 (Selena Frost) and No. 2 (5’7” senior guard, Iyanna Thompson-Carson) are really nice players,” Kerns noted. “No. 1 has my vote for Player of the Year. You could put her on any team and they’re automatically going to be that much better.”
Period No. 3 had the Lady Pirates within two points of a running clock before a never-say-die Lady Wave team connected on back-to-back baskets keeping a running clock at bay the remainder of the game.
“It’s the reality of high school basketball – whoever is able to play,” said Kerns. “The next man up and some girls are showing they are ready to get some more minutes and some of us are finding out why we are not getting as many minutes – that’s just the reality of how high school basketball works.”
The Lady Wave defense played well in the fourth shutting out the Lady Pirates bench and taking the final period 9-0 led by Brooke Schmidt’s five points.
“Brooke is a difference maker,” said Coach Kerns. “She gets her hands on so many balls, and can block so many shots. She had nine shots today and I told her we can’t play another game this season where she doesn’t shoot at least nine times. We need Brooke to shoot the ball more and I was happy to see her want the ball, especially in the second half.”
Three West Carrollton players accounted for all Lady Pirates scoring led by Frost with a game-high 24 points in three quarters of play.
BOXSCORE:
WEST CARROLLTON – S. Frost 24, S. Gandy 14, I. Carson 11 – TOTALS 15 7-12 4 49
GREENVILLE – B. Schmidt 9, A. Baumann 8, E. Fugett 4, M. Hutchens 3, J. Lyons 2, J. Loudy 2 – TOTALS 8 6-18 2 28
3-POINTERS
West Carrollton 4 (S. Frost 2, I. Carson 2)
Greenville 2 (A. Baumann 2)
SCORE by QUARTERS
18-20-11-00 49 West Carrollton
07-06-06-09 28 Greenville
