BLANCHESTER — A fast start and a strong finish helped Georgetown defeat Blanchester Monday night 71-39 in the girls basketball season opener at BHS.
Georgetown opened the game on a 16-2 run and led 22-8 after one quarter.
Blanchester chipped away over the final nine minutes of the first half, outscoring Georgetown 20-11 during the stretch. The Wildcats trailed 31-24 at the break.
“We made some adjustments to try to slow the game down and run through the post a little more than what we’ve had,” BHS head coach Bradon Pyle said. “We showed we can compete in that second quarter. We can battle with the teams in our league.
The deficit for Blanchester remained seven, 33-26, with 4:09 remaining in the third quarter. Georgetown’s offense caught fire again, outscoring Blanchester 38-13 over the final 12:09.
“We just need to play with a little more composure and under control,” Pyle said. “If we just take care of the ball better, we’ll be in games and we’ll win our fair share of games if we do that.”
Georgetown (1-0) forced 38 Blanchester turnovers, 12 of which were steals by Maddi Benjamin. She led all scorers with 26 points. Torie Utter added 18 points.
“They go four-deep in terms of who can shoot,” Pyle said. “Utter takes a lot of pressure away from those other girls. It opens the court up and Maddi Benjamin took advantage of it. She put the team on her shoulders when they slowed up a bit and made some plays.”
It was nearly a perfect night at the free-throw line for GHS, as they made 16 of 17 from the charity stripe.
Daelyn Staehling led Blanchester (0-1) with 11 points. Lana Roy had nine points and seven rebounds, while Ainsley Whitaker had 11 rebounds to go with five points.
“I keep telling them, ‘You’re right there,’” Pyle said. “We showed what we could do in that second quarter. We’re close. We’ve just got to keep working.”
SUMMARY
Monday, November 23, 2020
@Blanchester High School
Georgetown 71, Blanchester 39
G^22^10^13^27^^71
B^8^16^5^10^^39
(71) GEORGETOWN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Torie Utter 6-0-6-18, Maddi Benjamin 9-2-6-26, Caitlyn Sweet 3-1-0-7, Grace Burrows 3-1-2-9, Becky Roblero-Solis 3-3-2-10. TOTALS 24-7-16-71.
(39) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Emma Winemiller 2-1-0-5, Grace Irwin 2-1-0-5, Kaylee Coyle 1-0-0-2, Lana Roy 3-1-2-9, Olivia Potts 0-0-2-2, Ainsley Whitaker 2-0-1-5, Daelyn Staehling 5-0-1-11. TOTALS 15-3-6-39.
FIELD GOALS: G 24/63 (Benjamin 9/12, Utter 6/22); B 15/35 (Staehling 5/7, Roy 3/7)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: G 7/31 (Roblero-Solis 3/8, Benjamin 2/3); B 3/6
FREE THROWS: G 16/17 (Benjamin 6/6, Utter 6/6); B 6/13
REBOUNDS: G 27 (Roblero-Solis 6, Burrows 6, Utter 5); B 37 (Whitaker 11, Roy 7)
ASSISTS: G 9 (Roblero-Solis 3); B 4 (Potts 3)
STEALS: G 22 (Benjamin 12); B 3
BLOCKED SHOTS: G 0; B 1
TURNOVERS: G 9; B 38
