Maya Belton (23) fights for the rebound. (Photo/Ross Burton)
BLYTHEWOOD (Feb. 1, 2017) – Baskets for the Westwood girls did not come easy against York Comprehensive Tuesday night. Luckily for the Lady Redhawks, the Cougars had a much rougher time with scoring.
No one scored in double figures, but Westwood found enough points to finish strong and close out a 42-20 victory over York.
“We got off to a slow, sluggish start, and never really seemed to break that,” Westwood head coach Gregory Bauldrick said. “I kind of warned them that this could be one of those catch games. You can’t play to what you think the level of competition might be, and lose your rhythm. I thought we never really got going in terms of our style and what we like to see.”
The Lady Redhawks (16-4, 5-2 Region 3-4A) went 14-for-53, or 26.4 percent, from the floor for the game. York (9-9, 1-5) went just 6-for-40, or 15 percent.
No Westwood player scored in double figures, but scooping up rebounds was no problem for the Lady Redhawks. Mya Belton had 11 boards to go with her team-leading nine points, and Nyah Leveretter pulled down 10 rebounds to go with her six points.
Essence Mashall and Unique Drake scored eight points apiece.
“If it weren’t for the boards we would have really been struggling,” Bauldrick said. “We couldn’t get any buckets, we weren’t in sync offensively. We got rebounds, put-backs, foul shots here and there, but we’ve got to stay dialed in to what we want to do.”
Neither team could find the hoop in the first five minutes, as both the Lady Redhawks and Cougars combined to go 0-for-15. Natalie Graham made the first field goal of the game, a 3-pointer, with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
Leveretter closed out the first with a pair of foul shots that gave Westwood a 6-5 lead.
The Lady Cougars opened the second quarter with a Graham basket in the paint. After that, the Lady Redhawks finally found the net.
Belton sank back-to-back 3-pointers, Drake got a put-back, and Belton then got a steal and a basket to finish a 10-0 run with 5:27 left in the first half. That run gave Westwood a 16-7 lead and the Lady Redhawks never looked back.
With a 22-13 lead at the half, Westwood looked to improve on 7-of-27 shooting.
The Lady Redhawks only got seven more baskets in the second half, but shut out the Cougars in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Westwood, which beat Richland Northeast 56-40 last Friday night, heads to Lancaster this Friday. The Lady Redhawks are securely in second place behind unbeaten Ridge View, and look to close out region play strong over the next three games.
“We can’t play like this against them (Lancaster),” Bauldrick said. “They’re going to fight to the very end. If they get any sense that we’re not able to execute, that’s going to motivate them to stay after us. We need to reset and get it going.”
Westwood 42, York 20
YCHS: 5-8-7-0 – 20
WHS: 6-16-10-10 – 42
York
Graham 8, Morris 3, Starnes 3, McClure 3, Long 2, Love 1.
Westwood
Belton 9, Drake 8, Marshall 8, Lockett 6, Leveretter 6, Smith 2, Gray-Williams 1.
