Sports
Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes: Dec. 6-12
By: Justin Holbrock
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This past week didn’t start the way the Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes wanted it to, with a 58-48 overtime loss to Vinton County on Dec. 7.
Nelsonville-York fought its way back in the fourth quarter ending on a 13-3 run to force overtime. The Vikings, however, gave the Lady Buckeyes no chance in overtime going on a 12-0 at one point to pull away with the 10-point win to give N-Y its first loss of the season.
Erin Jones led Vinton County’s overtime dominance, with seven of her nine points coming in extra time. Jones only had one shot attempt in all of regulation.
Missed free throws ended up haunting the Lady Buckeyes as they went 4-19 from the line and only made one free throw on eight attempts in the fourth quarter. N-Y found difficulty getting in an offensive rhythm, which coach Doug Whiteman addressed after the game.
“The game plan was to make them guard, but our movement was just not good,” Whiteman said. “We just need to settle down more.”
There were a few positives for Nelsonville-York including the fact that it forced 22 turnovers after forcing 32 against Athens back on Dec. 3. The Lady Buckeyes also showed resilience in the fourth quarter battling back to send the game into overtime.
That first loss was quickly erased though as the Lady Buckeyes handled Meigs 59-33 on Dec. 10. Sophomore Jessie Addis led the team with 22 points on the night.
Nelsonville-York’s point guard also had some help on offense from Samantha Taylor, who continues to produce. Taylor ended up finishing the game with 13 points helping the team pick up its third win of the season.
Nelsonville-York went to win another game on Dec. 12 when it took down Waverly 62-47.
“Tonight (Dec. 12) was just a big step up and it’s a really good team, a good win and we looked more like us,” Whiteman explained.
The 62 points marks the highest for N-Y so far this season and it came off the heels of double-digit scoring from four different players. Addis and Taylor stepped up again scoring 12 apiece while Sidney Fick added 10 points of her own with Whiteman saying she was a “big lift” off the bench in the game.
The fourth player in double-digit scoring was Kaitlyn Hurd who poured in 16 points. Hurd has been quiet up to this point in the season but her performance might have been exactly what she needed to break out of her scoring slump.
A big reason for the Lady Buckeyes’ highest scoring game this season was the ball movement they showed, which Whiteman has stressed since the loss to Vinton County.
“Our ball movement tonight was fantastic compared to where it was against Vinton County,” Whiteman said. “We finally looked comfortable and fluid on offense and that was nice to see.”
Whiteman also added defensive rotation was still a problem in the game against Waverly and is something that needs to be worked on before their game on Dec. 14 with Wellston.
The Lady Buckeyes will also play a huge conference game at Alexander on Dec. 17, which will have early implications on the race for the TVC-Ohio title.