by JACOB MEREDITH / sportingpumpkin.com
WESTERVILLE — This first Sunday of December it was the host Westerville Wildcats defeating Teays Valley 36-24 in a defensive showcase for the Thrill in the Ville.
The opening quarter began with consecutive defensive stops for South and Teays Valley but the scoring for the Vikings was opened up when Alyssa Horsley found Kennedy Younkin for an open jumper. The Wildcats matched with a Deziah Dupree drive to even the score. Then a Kennedy Younkin drive drew a foul and she dropped one of two free throws. A Wildcat three would be matched by two from the Vikings’ Charisma Roberts. Another bucket from Younkin and a pair of free throws form Horsley saw the first close at 11-7 with the Vikings on top.
The Teays defense forced Westerville South to shoot 3-10 in the quarter.
Then the defense from the Wildcats began to force mistakes.
“Their constant pressure sped us up and it caused too many turnovers on our end,” TV coach Trevor Younkin said.
The Vikings were held to 2-9 shooting in the second quarter, only getting baskets from Younkin and a pair of free throws from Cami Robins. The Wildcats put up 10 in the quarter to take the lead at half 17-15.
Gathering only scores from Tessa Horsley and Abby Tier, the Vikings trailed 25-20 heading into the fourth.
“Westerville was playing the passing lanes well and all night our passes were a minute too slow and not crisp enough,” Younkin said. “They pressured us a lot and we didn’t move well without the ball and we can’t do that playing schools like Westerville.”
Kennedy Younkin started the scoring in the fourth for Teays Valley but the Vikings managed only one other basket from Addie Helwagen in the final period.
“This Westerville program (Central District champions last year) is traditionally good and playing them last year, and they graduated a lot and we didn’t, and I envisioned a better outcome tonight,” coach Younkin said.
Kennedy Younkin led the Vikings with nine points and seven rebounds in this non-league match-up. Horsley had six points.
Zoe Guice led South with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Dupree finished with 10.
Westerville South 36, Teays Valley 24
Teays Valley – Addie Helwagen 1-0-2, Abby Tier 1-0-3, Cami Robins 0-2-2, Kennedy Younkin 4-1-9, Charisma Roberts 1-0-2, Tessa Horsley 2-2-6. Three-point goals – Tier. Totals – 9-5-24.
Westerville South – Noor Banlamlih 1-0-2, Deziah Dupree 4-1-10, Damia Dupree 0-2-2, Zoe Guice 5-1-11, Cirrya White 4-1-9, Kaelyn Patterson 1-0-2. Three-point goals – De Dupree. Totals – 15-5-36.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Teays Valley 11 4 5 4 24
Westerville South 7 10 8 11 36
