Waterford wins second-straight regional title
By: Thomas Billington
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LOGAN, Ohio (WOUB) — The Waterford Wildcats (25-1, 10-0 TVC-Hocking) faced off against the Berlin-Hiland Hawks (22-5, 12-0 Inter-Valley League) in the regional finals. A matchup that is a repeat of last year’s Division IV regional finals where the Wildcats won in overtime.
The Hawks came into this game as co-conference champions of the Inter-Valley League and have won their last four games. The Wildcats are TVC-Hocking Champions and have won 15 of their last 16 games.
The Wildcats won the with a final score of 50-34.
Both teams were evenly matched throughout the first quarter. Waterford got the ball off the tip and senior center Avery Wagner was the first on the board with a two-pointer. The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth. But after the opening minutes, Waterford took the lead for the rest of the game.
The second quarter of the game played out the same way as the first quarter. The Wildcats lead the whole quarter. Waterford scored 14 points in the quarter. Kendall Sury scored 15 points in the first half, on her way to score 26 points in the game.
Sury knew that going into this game there would be an advantage, “We knew there was going to be a mismatch on me with a little guard on me since I had a height advantage.”
The Wildcats went into the locker room at half with a lead 24-14.
During the early part of the second half of the game, the Wildcats extended their lead to 14 points. The Hawks were still scoring points, as senior Trish Troyer scored eleven points in half on her way to 14 points in the game. She was the Hawks’ leading scorer.
However, the Hawks began to face foul trouble as Ellie Habeger and Joplin Yoder both fouled out in what became their last high school basketball game.
The Wildcats went on to win the game with a final score of 50-34.
The Hawks finished their season with a final record of 22-5. The team graduates four seniors and will look forward to rebounding next season.
The Wildcats advance to the final four in Division VII. They will face off against the Mogadore Wildcats (23-4).