Sports
Lady Buckeyes Dominate Vinton County
By: Justin Holbrock
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After breaking every huddle, the Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes say one word before heading on to the court. “Together.”
And that’s exactly how they played against Vinton County at home on Thursday night. Nelsonville-York not only beat the Lady Vikings, but crushed them in a 51-31 victory to claim sole possession of first place in the TVC-Ohio.
What’s even more surprising than this win was that Nelsonville-York’s leading scorer Jessie Addis only had four points after three quarters. She also missed 10 free throws on 13 attempts in the game.
N-Y came into this huge conference game with a chip on its shoulder after Vinton County beat the Lady Buckeyes in overtime back on Dec. 7. After that game, Vinton County was convinced they’d have to beat only Alexander to win the conference title.
“Our kids felt a little disrespected after they beat us down there,” Nelsonville-York coach Doug Whiteman said. They made the comment that Alexander had to come through them for the league title, kind of dismissing us after the third game of the season so we were really, really motivated to let people know we’re still here.”
Nelsonville-York proved that right out of the gate holding Vinton County to zero points in the first quarter taking a 12-0 lead.
That lead increased after every single quarter.
Nelsonville-York’s 16-point halftime lead was challenged at the beginning of the third quarter when the Lady Vikings finally started to match N-Y’s intensity. Tensions escalated inside Ben Wagner Gymnasium with pushing and shoving overshadowing the action.
It came to a climax with 2:17 left in the third quarter when Jalen Hale* received a technical foul after saying something to the referee on her way to the bench.
Without the usual scoring from Addis, a few Lady Buckeyes stepped up including Tori Campbell who had the biggest impact in this game. She finished with eight rebounds and 16 points, 12 of which came in the first half.
Suffocating defense from the Lady Buckeyes is what ultimately led to this convincing win for N-Y.
It gave up 20 points to Michaela Puckett while the rest of Vinton County only had two field goals with only six* points in the whole fourth quarter. The 31 points from Vinton County is the fewest for the Lady Vikings all season with the next closest being 42 points in a three-point loss to Circleville.
The Lady Buckeyes now control their own destiny in the TVC-Ohio with four conference games remaining.
Their biggest test will come on Jan. 28 at home against Alexander. That game will likely determine the next winner or winners of the TVC-Ohio, a conference the Lady Buckeyes haven’t won in a decade.
Vinton County looks to regroup Jan. 20 against Minford.
*In an earlier version we wrote Vinton County scored four points in the fourth quarter. The team scored six points in the fourth quarter. We also wrote Michaela Puckett got a technical foul in the third quarter. It was Jalen Hale who received the technical.