Sports
Waterford Boys and Girls Continue Strong Start
By: Nick Mullens
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In Wildcat country, wins are about as common as you’ll find in High School Basketball. The Lady Wildcats have arguably been the best team in Washington County since seniors Megan ball and Alli Kern stepped onto the court three years ago. The Lady Wildcats have a total of 82 wins and only 7 loses the last three years.
After losing their first game of the year against Parkersburg 56-52, the Lady Wildcats have won their last four games coming into this week. Once again, this week like was business as usual for Waterford.
They started off the week on Monday the 18th at Miller where they would take home the 75-25 victory over the Falcons. The Lady Wildcats have seemed to rack up big victory margins all season so far and that didn’t change on Thursday the 21st.
They defeated Belpre 64-18, and Waterford who is known for a tenacious, swarming defense showed it Thursday night. They forced Belpre into 16 turnovers in the first quarter alone.
The Wildcats (6-1, 6-0) wasted no time as they were able to use those 16 turnovers and jump out to a 16-4 lead in the first quarter. They would add one making it 38-11 heading into halftime. That score would be the story of the game and Waterford averaged 16 points a quarter and Belpre could only muster 4.5 points a quarter.
They showed why they have reached three consecutive appearances in the state tournament and Division IV state champs in 2015-16. The Wildcats were led by the Alli Kern who had 14 points and nine boards and Megan Ball added 13 points and six boards.
Whoever the two did not lead Waterford in scoring, that was junior Rachael Adams who has a game-high 16 points along with 4 steals.
The Lady Wildcats will now prepare to take on Parkersburg. Waterford will be looking to keep their six-game winning streak alive. This rematch will take place next Thursday as they face off in Waterford.
Speaking of Steaks, the Waterford Boys basketball team have one of their own going. Coming into this the Boys were 2-2, that is half the amount of losses they had all last season.
To start the week, on Tuesday the Wildcats were heavy favorites against the winless Federal Hocking team. This game, however, would end up turning into a thriller.
The Wildcats would end up taking home the win 60-50 after the Lancers forced OT.
Waterford would go through the first half with relative ease and they lead Federal Hocking 30-22 in the first half.
The lancers were not going away and with the 42-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter, Waterford could feel the pressure. They were only able to score 2 points up to when Fed hock was able to capture the lead with 35 seconds in regulation. The Lancers took the lead for the first time since the opening minute.
This would force the Wildcats to respond and they did, Wyatt Lang was able to tie things up with seconds left on a putback. for the first time since the opening minute. Once overtime hit Federal Hocking Just could not keep up with the Wildcats. Waterford would go on a 10-0 run to finish out the game.
The lancers were led by Bradley Russell who scored a game-high 20 points and game-high in rebounds with 16. It just wasn’t enough for Federal Hocking to come away with the win. Waterford was led by senior Travis Pottmeyer who had a nice night with 19 points and nine boards,
Waterford Coach Tom Simms said the late game struggles were a “Mental issue, Fed Hock played man most of the game and they made the change to zone and we just missed the easy shots”
The Wildcats (4-2, 4-1) would end up in another shot out this Friday when they just edged out the Southern Tornadoes 60-56. After losing six seniors from last season Coach Simms said: “They are starting to work into the offense and gel they just aren’t there on the defensive side of the ball yet”.
With the offense starting to get rolling after the loss of those seniors, Coach added “Travis (Pottmeyer) is starting to step up. He struggled to start the season because he was hidden behind all of the other guys previous years but now he has to be a focal point on this team”.
The Wildcats will look to keep their three-game winning streak alive when they take on Fort Frye at home next Saturday.