by JACOB MEREDITH / sportingpumpkin.com
OBETZ — Teays Valley used a 20-point night from Kennedy Younkin to control the game from tip and defeat Hamilton Township 71-52.
Teays Valley shot out the gate with a Tessa Horsley layup and Hamilton began the night with a Logan Baker basket. Alyssa Horsley scored the next four points for the Vikings coming from a three and a free throw. The Rangers responded with a driving score from leading scorer Myke-Kila Dean who had 18 on the night. Then three straight Vikings baskets from Tier, Younkin and Horsley led to a Hamilton timeout with 5:37 to go in the first. After the time-out, Younkin drew a foul and sank one of two free throws, followed by a foul drawn by HT’s Alexis Wooten, who made both shots to make Viking lead seven points.
The first quarter ended with TV up 20-14.
The second quarter began with a Younkin basket and a Tessa Horsley three.
“We wanted to play our style of basketball against Hamilton. They always give us a fight and throw something at us, and we wanted to make sure we were executing and doing what we need to play our style of basketball and I didn’t want their play style to slow us down on what we were doing,” TV coach Trevor Younkin said.
HT’s Dean dropped consecutive baskets to make the Vikings’ lead six late in the period. Teays’ Tier and Tessa Horsley shot the Vikings back ahead by 10 with corresponding scores and a Jersey Baker three cut the lead to seven points. Then Abby Tier drew a foul and she sank both free throws to make the lead nine. A Juliana McLaughlin layup from Hamilton was followed by three Vikings scores — a bucket by Alyssa Horsley, a three from Addie Helwagen and a Tier layup.
HT’s Baker made two free throws to end the scoring in the half, leaving the score 38-25 going in favor of the Vikings.
“We had a lot of effort plays that don’t show up in the stats — Tessa Horsley’s defense, Abby Tier’s tenacity and being all over the floor getting knocked down 100 times. It was a great team effort and those plays need to happen that don’t get recognition in the scorebook,” coach Younkin said.
The Vikings began the second half with three scores from Kennedy Younkin who drew a foul, sank both shots, and converted two layups leading to an early Hamilton timeout. The Rangers’ lone answer was a Wooten three before the pause. Tier drew a foul following the timeout and made both shots. Then Dean converted a three-point play to cut the Vikings’ lead to 16.
The Vikings outscored the Rangers 19-8 in the quarter to take the advantage to 57-33 going into the fourth.
The Rangers outscored the Vikings 19-14 in the fourth led by Alexis Wooten who hit three threes in the period. Younkin added nine points to her total in the period.
It was the first action TV had seen since a win over Fairfield Union on Jan. 23.
“We had 10 days off after the tragedy with the Circleville game due to the situation with Addison (Edgington) and our hearts go out to her,” Younkin said. “Even though she wasn’t a team member of ours it affected many of our girls who know her and played against her.
“I just wanted us to execute to the best of our ability due to our upcoming game tomorrow versus Watterson who is a great Central District team.”
The Vikings (11-6, 8-2) welcome Bishop Watterson for a 2:30 varsity tip Saturday.
Teays Valley 71, Hamilton Township 52
Teays Valley — Addy Helwagen 1-0-3, Abby Tier 4-6-15, Cooper McManaway 1-0-3, Kennedy Younkin 7-6-20, Alyssa Horsley 6-3-17, Tessa Horsley 5-0-11, Kennedy Teetz 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Helwagen, Tier, McManaway, A Horsley (2), T Horsley. Total — 25-15-71.
Hamilton Township — Juliana McLaughlin 1-4-6, Logan Baker 1-1-3, Alexis Wooten 3-6-15, Jersey Baker 2-2-8, Faith Moore 1-0-2, Kiki Dean 8-1-18. Three-point goals — Wooten (3), Baker (2), Dean. Total — 16-14-52.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Teays Valley 20 18 19 14 71
Hamilton Twp 14 11 8 19 52
