WILMINGTON — In a physical, up and down game, Wilmington outlasted Clinton-Massie 43-39 Thursday in SBAAC American Division girls basketball action at Fred Summers Court.
The win puts Wilmington at 6-6 overall and 4-2 in the division. Katie Murphy led the Hurricane with 21 points and eight rebounds. She handed out three assists. Maura Drake dominated inside with 11 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots. Chailyn Johns had seven rebounds and five assists. Caroline Diels hauled in 10 rebounds.
WHS coach Zach Williams said his squad’s “resiliency to keep fighting, to keep pushing themselves in practice to extend their skill set” has been a joy to watch with each passing day.
For Massie, the loss continues an agonizing run of close games. Despite being 1-9, 0-4, the Lady Falcons have been out of just two games. The other seven losses are by a combined 26 points.
“I love these girls to death,” CM head coach Hilma Crawford said. “We’re so close to being, maybe 6-3. We just keep telling them to keep playing and good things are going to happen. I wish I could reward them (with a win) for all their hard play.”
McKenna Branham had 12 points and eight rebounds. Kenzie Avery had seven points, eight rebounds and six steals. Miranda Crawford had seven points, seven rebounds and five steals. Aiden Eades had 11 points.
“The teams we play always seem to have that girl that’s a consistent scorer,” Crawford said. “They (Wilmington) has that in Murphy. We have to scrap for every point.”
Massie scrapped its way to a 5-0 lead to begin the game on a three by Avery and a two by Crawford. WHS, though, stormed back for a 7-5 lead on John’s three with 3:59 to go in the first.
The Falcons trailed 10-9 late but Eades hit a three with 18 seconds to go to put Massie on top, 12-10. That would be the visitors last points for 4:58. In that span, WHS went on a 10-0 run. Drake had an old-fashioned three-point play and Taylor Noszka hit a long-range three.
Johns drained another three, this one off a steal and assist by Caroline Diels. With 1:41 to go until halftime, WHS led 23-18.
Wilmington held the lead throughout the third. It was 31-23 late in the period when McKenna Branham hit a three, 31-26. In the fourth, Noszka to Murphy for three and Johns to Murphy for three pushed the WHS advantage to 39-28 with 5:21 to go.
But Massie’s frenetic play pulled the Falcons back in the game. Eades hit a pair of free throws and Branham followed with two, 39-36. Murphy turned playmaker and found Drake under the basket for two, 41-36.
It was 41-37 WHS when Murphy calmly swished two free throws, 43-37, with 28 seconds to go. Sydney Crowe followed with a two and Crawford called time. When Wilmington put the ball in play, Massie let the clock go to four seconds before fouling and WHS held on for the win.
“We were able to finish better than we have in the past three games,” Williams said. “We were able to build a big enough lead the first three quarters and the start of the fourth, to give us some (breathing) room. We did that by playing solid defense.”
SUMMARY
Jan 14, 2021
@Fred Summers Court
Wilmington 43 Clinton-Massie 39
W^10^13^10^10^^43
CM^12^6^8^13^^39
(43) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Robinson 0-0-2-2 Noszka 1-1-0-3 Johns 2-2-0-6 Drake 5-0-1-11 Murphy 7-3-4-21 Diels 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 15-6-7-43
(39) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Eades 4-1-2-11 Crawford 2-0-3-7 Avery 3-1-0-7 Branham 3-1-5-12 Thompson 0-0-0-0 Voisey 0-0-0-0 Crowe 1-0-0-2 Jaramillo 0-0-0-0 Phipps 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 13-3-10-39
FIELD GOALS: WIL 15/54; CM 13/61
3 PT FIELD GOALS: WIL 6/16; CM 3/14
FREE THROWS: WIL 7/12; 10/19
REBOUNDS: WIL-56 (Drake 15 Diels 10 Murphy 8 Johns 7 Robinson 6 Noszka 4); CM-41 (Branham 8 Avery 8 Crawford 7 Eades 4 Voisey 4 Thompson 1 Jaramillo 1 Phipps 1)
ASSISTS: WIL-10 (Johns 5 Murphy 3 Noszka 1 Diels 1); CM-6 (Crawford 2 Eads 1 Avery 1 Branham 1 Voisey 1)
STEALS: WIL-10 (Diels 3 Noszka 3 Johns 2 Murphy 1 Robinson 1); CM-17 (Avery 6 Crawford 5 Branham 2 Thompson 1 Voisey 1 Crowe 1 Jaramillo 1)
BLOCKED SHOTS: WIL-5 (Drake 4 Johns 1); CM-2 (Thompson 1 Avery 1)
TURNOVERS: WIL-24; CM-13
