BLANCHESTER – Bouncing back from its first loss of the season, the Blanchester girls basketball team defeated Whiteoak Saturday night 44-29 at Blanchester High School.
Blanchester (6-1) used its trademark relentless defense to keep Whiteoak (1-6) from finding any rhythm on offense.
“(Whiteoak) probably had 30 turnovers,” BHS head coach Bennie Carroll said. “Some of them were us forcing it. I’m guessing it was a more physical style than they’re used to playing.”
It took less than four minutes into the second quarter for Blanchester to create the margin it would maintain throughout the game.
Leading 7-3 at the end of the first quarter, Blanchester started the second quarter by scoring the first 10 points. Tristan Culberson hit two threes and Sarah Burton hit one during the run.
It ended what was a 15-0 run that gave Blanchester a 17-3 lead with 4:38 left in the second.
Whiteoak would get the margin below 10 points only once. With 58.8 seconds left in the second, the Blanchester lead had been trimmed to 19-10. A 10-2 run carrying over into the second half gave Blan the cushion it needed.
“It was one of those games where, once we stretched it out, I didn’t feel like we ever put the nail in the coffin,” Carroll said. “Yet they never really threatened us.”
Burton led Blanchester with 12 points, while Culberson added 11. Rachael Doyle chipped in 8 points.
Emma Wardlow led Whiteoak with 13 points. Maggie Carr, another player Carroll knew his team would have to watch out for, was held to just 5 points as she fouled out in the fourth quarter.
“They’ve got two really good players in Wardlow and Carr,” Carroll said. “We made them work for every one they got. We didn’t want those two to get hot and hurt us.”
Whiteoak managed just 31 shot attempts from the floor, compared to 51 for Blanchester. Whiteoak also made just 9 of those 31.
Summary
Dec. 12, 2015
@Blanchester High School
Blanchester 44, Whiteoak 29
W 03.07.11.08…..29
B 07.15.13.09…..44
(29) WHITEOAK (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Lexi Jones 1-0-0-2, Maggie Carr 1-1-2-5, Ashleigh Harless 2-1-1-6, Emma Wardlow 4-0-5-13, Michaela Luman 1-0-1-3. TOTALS 9-2-9-29.
(44) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Rachael Doyle 4-0-0-8, Tristan Culberson 4-3-0-11, Marissa Doughman 1-0-0-2, Sarah Burton 4-1-3-12, Merri Lindsey 1-0-1-3, Asia Baldwin 0-0-1-1, Kayla Dugger 3-0-1-7. TOTALS 17-4-6-44.
FIELD GOALS: W 9/31 (Wardlow 4/10, Harless 2/8); B 17/51 (Burton 4/11, Doyle 4/12, Culberson 4/4)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: W 2/6; B 4/8 (Culberson 3/3)
FREE THROWS: W 9/16 (Wardlow 5/7); B 6/15 (Burton 3/4)
