The Bellwood-Antis Lady Blue Devils didn’t think very much of the first game between the B-A girls and the Lady Pirates of Williamsburg. Played at Williamsburg on Jan. 9, The Lady Pirates hit everything they threw up and the Bellwood-Antis girls shots looked like there was a lid over the net in a 53-37 Williamsburg win.
On Monday night at Bellwood, the Lady Blue Devils turned the tables on Williamsburg, in preparation perhaps for the District VI-AA playoffs which begin next Monday. The B-A girls played perhaps the best total team defense of the year, while the smaller Pirates had no answer for Katie Gardner, who scored inside at will to lead Bellwood-Antis to a 53-38 triumph.
Gardner opened the game with a pair of field goals from underneath and Rachel Meredith added a bucket for a 6-2 lead early in the game. Williamsburg came back with their best flurry of the night however to get out of the first quarter leading 8-7.
The Bellwood-Antis girls then doubled up Williamsburg in each of the next two quarters, outscoring the Lady Pirates 14-7 in the second quarter and 16-8 in the third to stretch their lead to 37-23 with just one quarter to play.
“The kids were a little upset about the last time we played Williamsburg down there,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich. “We didn’t have a great game when we played down there and they played really well. We wanted to get a little revenge factor.”
Lauren Carter, playing the post to give Gardner some rest tossed in baskets on the first two trips down court in the second quarter to push the Lady Blue Devils into an 11-8 lead they never relinquished.
After Williamsburg narrowed the score to 11-10, Stephanie Hatch blocked a Lady Pirate shot at one end and put in a soft jumper at the other end and Gardner followed with another basket for a 15-10 Bellwood-Antis lead. The Pirates again cut the deficit to 15-13, before Katie laid in a basket and Rachel Meredith popped one in from the corner and Carter added a rebound and putback for a 21-15 B-A lead at the half.
With the score 27-21 midway through the third quarter, Gardner hit three straight baskets from in close, Trista Sprankle added a bucket and Katie tossed in one more for a 37-23 bulge at the end of three quarters.
“Defensively the kids really stepped up,” said Lovrich. “We played the zone and we played man and the kids did well in both.”
Williamsburg tried to get some offense going in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Blue Devils scored with them, matching them bucket for bucket. Susan Ridgeway threw in the first two baskets of the quarter for B-A, the Meredith hit from the corner and Hatch converted a turnaround jumper. Gardner added a putback, Meredith fired in a short jumper, Carter sank two free throws and Samantha Erickson closed down the scoring for Bellwood-Antis before a trey at the buzzer by Lady Pirate Jess Houck set the final score.
Gardner led the Lady Blue Devils with a game-high 18 points and just missed getting a double-double with nine rebounds. Katie was unstoppable from the field sinking nine of 12 attempts. Meredith kept her hot hand for the third game in a row with 10 points. Carter scored nine points and had six rebounds and a blocked shot. Steph Hatch scored six points and had five rebounds and two blocks. Trista Sprankle pulled down five boards.
“Katie is bigger than all their kids,” said Lovrich. “Their biggest girl is 5-9. They play with a lot of heart, but it’s tough when you go against a girl that big to try and stop her every time down the floor. It just creates matchup problems. Our guards were doing a great job getting the ball into Katie tonight. We got some good points off the bench, too. Lauren, Susan, Samantha, it’s nice to get that scoring from the bench. It takes some pressure off the starting five.”
Bellwood-Antis had a 40-24 advantage in rebounds and continually powered the ball inside over Williamsburg’s smaller defenders.
Morgan Tate led Williamsburg with 10 points, Kayla Harker seven points and Amy Houck two points, a far cry from the first game when the trio combined for 38 points.
Bellwood-Antis controlled the boards holding Williamsburg to six offensive boards and a total of 17, while the Lady Devils pulled down 15 offensive and 36 total rebounds.
The Lady Blue Devils had no three-point goals against Williamsburg, the first time all season the B-A girls have gone without a trey.
Bellwood-Antis (15-8) play their final regular season contest on Friday at home celebrating Senior Night against Bishop Guilfoyle. Junior varsity action will begin at 6 p.m. with the varsity to follow at 7:30 p.m.
Junior Varsity
Bellwood-Antis won the junior varsity game 31-18 over the Wiliamsburg jayvees. B-A took an 11-0 advantage in the first period and had a 27-9 cushion after three quarters in posting the win. The Lady Devils jayvees improve to 10-9 with their seventh win in the last eight ballgames.
Lauren Carter led B-A with 10 points.
Crystal Sanders led Williamsburg with nine points.
Bellwood-Antis 53 Williamsburg 38
WILLIAMSBURG – J. Houck 2 0-0 6, Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Sanders 1 0-0 2, Bookhammer 2 1-3 5, Harker 2 26 7, A. Houck 1 0-0 2, Lee 0 0-0 0, Severa 2 2-2 6, Tate 3 2-2 10, Yeager 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13 7-13 38.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Sprankle 1 0-0 2, Edevane 1 0-0 2, Hatch 3 0-0 6, Meredith 5 0-0 10, Gardner 9 0-2 18, Swanson 0 0-0 0, Erickson 1 0-0 2, Carter 3 3-8 9, Ridgeway 2 0-0 4, Smith 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 25 3-10 53.
Score by Quarters
Williamsburg 8 7 8 15 – 38
Bellwood-Antis 7 14 16 16 – 53
Three point goals: Williamsburg 5 (J. Houck 2, Tate 2, Harker 1).
Bellwood-Antis none.
