Lady Knights show their poise in showdown with Generals

It was The Game.

After the first 12 games of the season, it was as simple as that.

With both West Holmes and Wooster tied atop the Ohio Cardinal Conference standings at 10-1 entering their Feb. 2 contest, it was do-or-die for both teams, especially with the Lady Knights having to come to Wooster and memories of a 46-45 loss in their first meeting still fresh in their minds.

Playing in front of a packed house in Wooster a month later, West Holmes’ youthful charges stepped up with their biggest game of the season, grabbing what seems certainly to be at least a share of the OCC title with a convincing 42-26 victory over the Generals.

Starting a freshman, three sophomores and a junior, West Holmes’ play belied its youth in a championship-game setting, showing its poise throughout the 32-minute contest. Rachelle Morrison buried a mid-range jumper from the right side to erase an 11-10 Wooster lead with 5:51 to play in the second quarter and sophomore Laina Snyder turned one of Wooster’s 24 turnovers into two more points seven seconds later to make it a 14-11 game, and the Knights would never be headed after that.

West Holmes led 22-13 at the half and turned in another near duplicate 24-13 second half into the convincing win.

The Knights entered the game convinced they had to get the Generals into an up-tempo game. While their full-court pressure wasn’t in Wooster’s face all night, the constant pressure and an aggressive mindset led to a number of unforced WHS errors and had Wooster out of synch much of the evening.

“We pressed more this time,” said West Holmes coach Lisa Patterson. “It seemed to able to cause Wooster to make some bad decisions. We wanted to play fast. I feel we’re quicker, but we’re not stronger.

“We wanted to play an up-tempo game. I feel our bench is deeper. That was goal number one... If we played a half-court game, we’re not going to win very often. Everybody on our bench played well. We crashed the boards. When you look at our three losses, those were games we didn’t out-rebound (the opposition) and tonight we did.”

With both teams shooting 30 percent on the night - WH at 13-of-43 and Wooster at 10-of-30 – the difference came down to rebounding and turnovers. In those areas, West Holmes held a decided advantage, especially through three quarters. West Holmes led 35-21 on the scoreboard and had made only six turnovers to Wooster’s 15 and owned a 34-25 advantage on the glass.

“We turned the ball over more than we’re used to,” said Wooster coach Mike Baus. “I think Halle (Gallo-Malta) was more shook up (after a second-quarter collision) than we thought. When we had her checked, she was clear-eyed, but she was not quite herself after that.

“West Holmes seemed to want it more,” said Baus. “They got all the loose balls and we didn’t.”

Wooster’s last lead at 11-10 came on a Gabby Cicolani free throw in the second quarter, but West Holmes closed out the final five minutes of the half en route to a 22-13 halftime advantage.

“As opposed to looking at stretches, I’m more generalized,” said Baus. “We just looked sloppy and we got out-hustled. I don’t think we played very well (in that span).”

Wooster pulled to 22-15 to open the second half on a layup by Claire Ballard, but Morrison answered back with a 3-pointer from the left corner (7:30) and Paiten Strother countered from the right (5:42) to make it 28-15. A 6-0 Wooster run made it 28-21 on field goals from Gallo-Malta, Lauren Walker’s only points of the game (5:02) and a short shot by Andi Logee (3:44).

The Knights countered that with a 7-0 spurt, capped off by a buzzer-beating layup by Snyder that pushed the Lady Knights’ lead to 35-21 at the break.

West Holmes made only 1-of-6 floor shots in the final eight minutes as both teams went the final 6:57 without a field goal. On its heels, Wooster finished with a trio of nines in the fourth quarter – going 1-of-9 from the floor, with that lone field goal coming in the first minute of the final period; committing nine turnovers and making only 3-of-9 free throws.

The Lady Knights were led by Strother with 14 points and a trio of 3-pointers, while Snyder added a dozen points and Morrison eight. For Wooster, Gallo-Malta led the Generals with 11 points.

West Holmes gained sole possession of first in the OCC at 11-1 and improved to 14-3. Wooster is also 14-3 and is now 10-2 in the OCC.