John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WAVERLY — Powered by a stifling defensive display, Piketon stormed into Waverly’s Downtown Gymnasium to start its season on Friday and left with a victory.
A combined 29 points from Laila Kelley and Jaylin Forbes was enough to beat the Tigers in itself as the Redstreaks nailed down a 39-23 win.
The ‘Streaks allowed just a single field goal in each of the first two quarters while slowly building their lead at each of the first three stops.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“It feels really good,” Kelley said. “Waverly is a well-coached team and they have a lot of athletes. So for us, it is a pretty good win. It’s a great way to start the season and set the tone, and it feels pretty good.”
Kelley got the scoring started on a pull-up jumper from 15 feet out, before Forbes added two buckets of her own. Freshman Taylor Roberts then got in on the action, canning a pair of free throws for an early 8-0 advantage.
Even after Waverly broke the ice when Abby Schrader canned a corner 3, assisted by Paige O’Bryant, the Redstreaks (1-0) just continued to slowly increase their lead.
Roberts scored a putback basket and Kelley slotted two of three free throws with no time on the clock to end the opening quarter at 12-3.
Each team looked to pick up the defensive intensity to get easy transition baskets, but it led to sloppy play. However, Kelley, Forbes and Reese Shanks were able to control the tempo for the Redstreaks, allowing them to win the second quarter by a tight 6-5 margin, producing a 18-8 score at the break.
“With the style that [Waverly] plays, they try to drive the middle a lot,” Kelley said. “So, coach told us to try and stay helpside. We did a really good job of talking and communicating. I think we gave up a couple too many fouls, and that is something that we can definitely work on. But, overall, I think that we did really well executing what coach wanted us to do.”
PHOTOS: Images from Piketon’s season-opening win over Waverly
As the teams came out of the break, the Redstreaks were locked in from the get-go on the defensive end. In the third, the ‘Streaks forced eight turnovers, with several being of the live-ball variety, leading to runout layups for Kelley and Forbes as the lead swelled to 30-13 heading to the fourth.
Piketon used much of its energy on the defensive side of the ball, which hindered its shooting ability from the outside.
However, a triple from Maddie Hale gained a large roar from the Piketon faithful midway through the final eight minutes, before a sizable run from the Tigers closed out the scoring.
A driving layup by Calli Knight started the run, and O’Bryant finished it with a triple and a pair of driving layups. But the Redstreaks were comfortably in front, closing out a 39-23 victory over their county rival.
Waverly was led in scoring by O’Bryant with seven points, while Knight added six.
Taryn Gillott pulled down eight rebounds for the Tigers, who only passed out a trio of assists as a team in the season-opening loss.
Kelley led all scorers with 16 points, while Forbes added 13 of her own. Roberts pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, and Haydn Daniels grabbed six boards. Forbes and Shanks each passed out a trio of assists, and Briar Penwell slid over and took two charges in helpside defense.
“Those rebounds, we really needed,” Forbes said of Roberts, who made her first career varsity start. “We’re not a very big team, so her coming in and getting all of those rebounds really helped.”
While the Tigers (0-1) look to bounce back with a home date against Southeastern on Monday, Piketon returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Portsmouth West.
“It’s really great to have that confidence,” Forbes said. “We played [West] a couple of weeks ago [in a scrimmage], so we know how they play and we know that we have to be the one to throw the first punch.”
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