by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
Circleville set the tone early on the way to a 51-16 win over Westfall to wrap up the four-day Horizon Holiday Classic.
Thirty seconds in, senior Faith Yancey had a steal and converted it with a layup.
Circleville got a free throw from Maddie Blakeman and then Yancey had another steal which led to a basket by Isabelle Perini and a 5-0 lead two minutes into the game. Circleville led 14-6 by the end of the quarter.
“We wanted to get off to a quicker start and try to set the tone in the game,” Circleville coach Brian Bigam said. “I’m sure Faith would like to play that way 24-7 because that’s just her demeanor. With playing six girls, trying to conserve energy and not get in foul trouble, we haven’t played that way as much. So, she was probably foaming at the mouth at the start of that game because we were going to pressure a little more.”
Yancey finished with five steals in the game.
Nine turnovers by the Mustangs in the second quarter helped Circleville to a 14-1 advantage and a 28-7 halftime lead.
“We’ve struggled all season with teams that give us ball pressure,” Westfall coach Joe Patete said. “We really struggled tonight to get to the spots we needed to get to to execute offensively. We just couldn’t get to those right places.
“We weren’t able to split the gaps in their 3-2 zone to get an easy shot for us. We really struggled with ball reversal.”
A 17-2 third had Circleville up 45-9.
Gabby McConnell had three three-pointers in leading the Tigers with 13 points.
“We watched them play (Bishop Ready) on Thursday and Ready had some size inside,” Bigam said, noting the Mustangs were packing in the defense on the post. “I told the girls as we were practicing yesterday and walking through today that the easiest way to make them not do that was to knock shots down from the perimeter. Gab hit a few and she had a couple others in the first half that were in and out.”
Blakeman added 12 and Yancey and Addison Edgington had 10 each.
“I feel like the second half we saw things better and moved the ball around better and played really unselfish basketball,” Bigam said.
Going up against teams like Circleville and Bishop Ready as well as Watkins Memorial last weekend is something Patete thinks will help his team moving into the second half of the season.
“Thursday night Ready gave us a different look and I thought it was one of the better games we played. Tonight, it was the complete opposite. We got hit early and we were wobbly the rest of the game,” Patete said. “Playing schools larger than us gives us a chance to experience size.
“Over this Christmas holiday, Watkins was a large school and Ready had big girls and we don’t have a lot of size. It’s going to challenge us as coaches to get our girls better and prepare for the size and physicality that other schools are bringing.”
The win moves Circleville to 9-0 on the season. They return in 2024 hosting West Jefferson Tuesday and then are back in league action Friday hosting Liberty Union.
“It’s nice to get away from the league but we know it’s a grind and if we don’t show up on any night in the league you can be knocked off by anyone,” Bigam said. “The big focus for us is to treat every opponent the same, take it one game at a time and not be looking ahead.”
Circleville 51, Westfall 16
Westfall — Marianna Packer 1-0-3, Kylie Mercurio 2-0-4, Reese Baughman 2-0-4, Aubrey Clark 1-1-3, Adrian Moehl 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Packer. Total — 7-26 1-3 16.
Circleville — Faith Yancey 2-0-10, Maddie Blakeman 3-6-12, Isabelle Perini 1-0-2, Ally Thornsley 2-0-4, Addison Edgington 5-0-10, Gabby McConnell 5-0-13. Three-point goals — Yancey (2), McConnell (3). Total — 20-41 6-9 51.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Westfall 6 1 2 7 16
Circleville 14 14 17 6 51
