Circleville 56, Logan Elm 28
CIRCLEVILLE — Circleville’s defense was very stingy in what it allowed Logan Elm in the final three quarters as the Tigers won their fifth straight 56-28.
Circleville jumped out to an 11-2 lead before Logan Elm made an early comeback. Scoring nine points in the final minute, the Braves were up 19-16 when the quarter ended.
“They had a nice little wrinkle offensively of what they did against us,” Circleville coach Brian Bigam said. “But we didn’t do a good job getting out on shooters. We were sinking too much and crashing on that and leaving them more open than need be.”
LE coach Mike Schultz said the Braves’ first quarter performance came from the Braves being able to play their style of ball. “We found ourselves down early, down 11-2. We’ve been preaching just keep battling and being who we are and ended the first quarter up 19-16,” he said.
A three from Kimmy Petty gave LE a 22-18 lead with five minutes left in the half.
That’s when Circleville’s defense kicked in as the Tigers gave up only six more points the rest of the game.
“There’s only so many ways you can attack our zone and when we play teams we adjust it to the personnel,” Bigam said. “My guards were getting too nosey early on in that first quarter leaving people open. So, I thought they did a better job of – one – pressuring the ball and being pesky on the ballhandlers up there making it tougher to make some of the passes and – two – they did what they were supposed to do in terms of not getting too nosey inside with some stuff.”
The Tigers scored the final 10 points of the first half for a 28-22 lead.
“I challenged them at halftime,” Bigam said. “We take pride in our defense, and I thought the adjustments we made to what they were trying to do against it and our defensive intensity was better in the second half.”
After working through some foul trouble in the first half, the Tigers were at full strength to start the third and used that to their advantage as Addison Edgington had 10 of her game-high 18 in the quarter to help the Tigers to a 45-26 lead.
“I thought we handled pressure a little bit better,” Bigam said. “When they got out and tried to pressure us that leaves her one-on-one and she’s obviously very capable of scoring when she’s being guarded one-on-one inside there.”
Ten turnovers limited LE’s opportunities in the third.
“Circleville – what they do, they do extremely well,” Schultz said. “As we were going through the locker room, I was commending the girls on just their hustle, their grit, the energy. But we’re 5-8 and under, and there were times when we had a 5-6 girl trying to guard (Edgington, 6-2).
“It doesn’t help when we have Kiki (Ingram), who’s averaging almost 20 points for us injured, so we’re hoping for the best on that.”
Ingram was limited to five points.
Gillian Savage led the Braves with 12 and Petty had 11.
Along with 18 from Edgington, the Tigers got 13 from Brooklyn Cramer and 10 from Maddie Blakeman.
Circleville suffered a loss when Cramer went down with a knee injury with two minutes left in the third.
Logan Elm (6-9, 0-8) is back in action Saturday with a trip to Dunbar over in Dayton.
The Tigers (11-2, 8-1) are back at it early Sunday when they take on Pickerington North at the Classic In The City being held at Pickerington Central. That game is slated for a 9 a.m. tip.
Circleville 56, Logan Elm 28
Circleville — Brooklyn Cramer 5-3-13, Ava Justice 0-1-1, Maddie Blakeman 3-3-10, Maddux Bigam 0-1-1, Ally Thornsley 3-0-8, Jocelyn McLaughlin 1-0-3, Addison Edgington 8-2-18, Mallory McConnell 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Blakeman, Thornsley (2), McLaughlin. Totals — 21-10-56.
Logan Elm — Kimmy Petty 3-3-11, Kiannah Ingram 2-0-5, Gillian Savage 5-0-12. Three-point goals — Petty (2), Ingram, Savage (2). Totals — 10-3-28.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 16 12 17 11 56
Logan Elm 19 3 4 2 28
Teays Valley 53, Logan 32 (girls)
Logan — Sigler 2-1-7, Barrett 1-0-2, Em Hinton 2-2-7, El Hinton 1-0-2, Harper 0-1-1, Daubenmire 4-5-13. Three-point goals — Sigler (2), Em Hinton. Totals — 10-9-32.
Teays Valley — Amelia Brumfield 1-1-3, Cooper McManaway 3-0-6, Cami Robins 4-1-9, Addie Keplar 3-1-8, Areyana Karshner 1-0-3, Kenzington Younkin 2-1-5, Avery Mann 1-0-2, Tessa Horsley 6-0-17. Three-point goals — Keplar, Karshner, Horsley. Totals — 21-8-53.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Logan 6 5 13 8 32
Teays Valley 16 12 18 6 53
Unioto 50, Westfall 43 (boys)
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Westfall 6 13 6 18 43
Unioto 9 11 15 15 50
Fairfield Union 53, Amanda-Clearcreek 28 (girls)
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Fairfield Union 10 10 20 13 53
Amanda-Clearcreek 9 4 7 8 28
