Hardwood Heroes
Waterford girls team holds off Linsly in close 47-39 matchup at home.
By: Payton Brooker
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The Waterford Wildcats returned home on Jan 21st as they looked to make it two in a row as they faced against the Linsly Cadets after a big win against Federal Hocking Lancers.
The Wildcats on this afternoon came out of the gate quickly with the shots coming down with no sign of trouble their way. The wealth of the ball was defiantly shared across the first half of the game with Laykyn Jones, Avery Smithberger, and Avery Wagner all getting involved. At the half, the Wildcats were shooting 50% as they went into halftime ahead 28-18.
The second half began to have struggles for the Wildcats, as the Cadets started to increase the intensity on the offensive side and kept getting more offensive rebounds to the point to tie up the game 39-39. From there after a timeout, Sophomore Avery Smithberger went on a run of her own.
“We got the ball moved around well and they found me open down on the block,” Smithberger said.
She led the way for a 6-0 run to help Waterford to comeback and win this close one 47-39 improving their record to 11-5.
Both Avery Wagner and Laykyn Jones led the team for the Wildcats in scoring with 14 points each with Avery Smithberger right behind with 13 points of her own. Wagner also led the team in rebounds with totaling 8 of them for the day.
The next task for the Wildcats though is all up to Monday against the South Gallia Rebels. A win for them Monday means the chance for them to share the TVC-Hocking becomes a possibility. Head Coach Jerry Close is hoping after this game, his players will be willing to gain confidence for the big game to come.
“Hopefully this game gives them some confidence,” says Coach Close. “We played Parkersburg South and played Newark Catholic, and those two games lately have become the matchup we’ve been looking for athletically in comparison to South Gallia.”
The huge matchup at Waterford will be played Monday night on January 23rd as we should see how the TVC-Hocking conference will finish off for this season.