WILMINGTON — When your tournament draw finds you slated to play the No. 2 ranked team in the Southwest District for Division III, the realization is you will have to climb a mountain.
Such was the case Saturday for the Blanchester Wildcats in their contest versus Norwood. Although the outcome was a 71-44 defeat, Blanchester head coach Pete Jackson saw some positive things from his squad.
“Coming into this and looking at film, we knew they (Norwood) were gonna press us and I think we handled it reasonably well. The final score may not show it that but we competed well,” he said. “I am proud of my girls for their effort and battling all the way.”
Norwood scored the first nine points of the game and the Indians held a 22-8 first quarter lead. Blanchester kept it close in the second period and trailed at halftime, 39-22.
The Indians had too much firepower in the third quarter, with a 22-9 blitz, putting the game away by 30 points, 61-31.
Ali Winchester was the leading scorer for the Indians with 21 and Kylie Jones added 14 points.
Senior Kaylee Coyle had 14 (10 in the final period) and sophomore Karlee Tipton added 11 (eight in the first half). Senior Shelbie Panetta added nine for Blanchester.
“While our overall record (5-18) is not what we had hoped it would be, we made noticeable improvement,” Jackson said following the game. “We have a good nucleus of returning players, at least five from this year’s roster, and people moving up. Blanchester girls’ basketball is going to be better in the future.”
Along with Coyle and Panetta, graduating Wildcat seniors who played Saturday were Gracie Roy and Desiree Abbott.
“I want to recognize them for their efforts and commitment to the Blanchester basketball program,” Jackson concluded.
SUMMARY
Feb 17, 2024
Division III Sectional
@Wilmington High School
Norwood 71, Blanchester 44
N^22^17^22^10^^71
B^8^14^9^13^^44
(71) NORWOOD. (2fg-3fg-ft-tp). Murphy 0-1-2-5, Ava Winchester 2-1-1-6, Segrist-Bellamah 3-0-0-6, Gibbs 0-0-0-0, Jones 7-0-0-14, Reynolds 0-1-0-3, Moyers 1-0-0-2, Smith 2-2-2-10, Ali Winchester 3-3-6-21. TOTALS 18-8-11-71.
(44). BLANCHESTER (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Roy 2-0-0-4, Harris 0-0-0-0, Coyle 4-1-3-14, Tipton 1-3-0-11, Trovillo 0-0-0-0, Abbott 0-0-0-00, Lansing 0-0-0-0, Panetta 3-0-3-9, Kelly 3-0-0-6. TOTALS 13-4-4-44.
