Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WAVERLY — Two years ago, West had never won a district championship in girls hoops.
But after Saturday’s result, the Senators are now your back-to-back district champions.
West (21-3) put the defensive clamps on Federal Hocking’s game plan and used its size advantage inside the paint to control the boards. It led to a 47-25 victory over the Lancers in a Division III district final at Waverly’s Downtown Gym.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“I think our team was very locked in defensively,” West coach Larry Howell said. “We held the to five points in the first half and did a good job on [Federal Hocking’s Brenlee] Cottrill. We also took care of the basketball for the most part. I’m just proud of and happy for these seniors.”
Per usual, West was led by its sensational senior point guard Emma Sayre. But she also got some important help from two of the team’s younger players on the biggest stage the Senators have played on up unto this point.
Freshmen Macy Whisman and Hailey Carver both made immediate impacts, both in the scoring column and on the glass.
“We got on Hailey and Macy earlier this summer and told them that they basically weren’t freshmen,” Howell said. “We had five seniors walk out the door. So they can’t be ‘freshmen.’ But they’re 14 years old. So you never know. I’m just proud that whatever challenges that were placed in front of them this year, those two have grown and met every one of them. Their confidence has grown.”
Federal Hocking (17-7) started the contest just 1-of-7 shooting, misfiring on a number of jump shots in the process.
Meanwhile, the Senators attacked inside. Sayre, Emily Moore and Macey Whisman all scored to put them ahead 6-2.
Hailey Carver later splashed a triple, pushing the lead to 9-2 before West closed out the first quarter with a 9-5 lead.
As good as they were in the first eight minutes, the Senators took things up a notch in the second.
A swarming defense forced five turnovers and held the Lancers scoreless throughout the second quarter.
“I’ll be honest with you, we didn’t make any adjustments [in that second quarter],” Howell said. “We just kept with our game plan. We got to their shooters and made them drive the ball. These kids just buy into defense, the game plan and they see the success of it. When they see success, the hungrier they get and they eat.”
Meanwhile, West’s offense got buckets from Carver, Whisman and Sayre, including a jumper at the buzzer from Sayre to go into halftime with a 17-5 lead.
With momentum on the Senators’ side, they kept their foot on the gas in the third as Moore, Sayre and Whisman all scored.
When Carver buried a triple to cap an 8-2 run, extending the lead to 25-7, it never shrunk below double digits throughout the rest of the afternoon.
Sayre finished the night with 16 points to lead the Senators, followed by a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds for Whisman.
“We graduated five seniors last year nobody expected us to be back here,” Howell said. “These girls started putting the work in last summer and put a lot of work in during the fall. We’ve had some bumps in the road during the season but they always worked to get better. Hopefully, we can keep this thing going.”
West returns to action in a Division III regional semifinal at 8 p.m., Wednesday at Logan High School. The Senators will meet with Portsmouth, who defeated Minford earlier on Saturday to advance.
“We can’t turn the ball over, we have to rebound and sit down and play defense,” Howell said. “It also definitely helps to know where [Portsmouth’s] Daysha Reid is and Sienna Allen. And they have other good players that we have to worry about, too. But our focus has to be on those two if we want to have any success. We’re just trying to give them a run for their money. We’ll see what happens.”
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