WILMINGTON — Western Brown scored the last 11 points of the game to down host Wilmington 47-42 Thursday in a battle of last year’s top two Southern Buckeye Conference American Division teams.
The Broncos (2-0, 2-0), last year’s division winner and winner of the last four in this series, led most of the game, except when the Hurricane (1-2, 1-1) went on a 10-2 run early in the fourth quarter to lead 42-36.
Taylor Noszka and Katie Murphy, who had game-high scoring honors with 19 points, buried threes; Sophie Huffman, whose steal led to the Murphy three, drove for two more; and Murphy took a steal the distance during the two-minute-and-10-second flurry.
Then it was Western Brown’s turn. A pair of Sadie Foster threes off Wilmington turnovers knotted the game at 42-42 with 1:21 left in the contest. Foster led the Broncos with 17 points. Amiyah Tull’s steal that led to Olivia Fischer’s layup gave Western Brown the lead for good, 44-42, with 51 seconds left in the game.
“The majority of our games this year are going to come down to almost every possession mattering,” Wilmington head coach Zach Williams said. “That showed tonight. That showed in the Massie game (48-44 win). It showed in the Kings game (60-48 loss). We’re still turning the ball over during crucial times. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball in those crucial moments. I have to do a better job of coaching the girls up during that time.”
The Broncos salted the game away at the free throw line after that.
“The girls never gave up. They never quit fighting. They did everything I asked them to do,” Williams said. “We just have to finish those possessions and stop that bleeding.
“That’s all of us, myself included.”
SUMMARY
December 2, 2021
@Fred Summers Court
Western Brown 47 Wilmington 42
WB^16^9^9^13^^47
WIL^9^7^14^12^^42
WB (47) – Foster 7-0-17, Campbell 1-4-6, Tull 2-1-5, Enzweiler 0-1-1, Fischer 5-1-13, Jones 0-0-0, Akers 2-0-5, McGhee 0-0-0. Total 17-7-47. 3-point goals: 6 (Foster 3, Fischer 2, Akers). FTM-FTA 7-10, 70 percent.
WHS (42) – Schuster 0-0-0, Robinson 1-2-4, Noszka 3-0-7, Huffman 2-1-6, Murphy 6-5-19, Diels 0-3-3, Martin 1-0-3. Total 13-11-42. 3-point goals: 5 (Murphy 2, Martin, Noszka, Huffman). FTM-FTA 11-13, 85 percent.
