Westwood’s Essence Marshall (4) gets a hand in on Lauren Harley (22) as Harley goes for the rebound. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD (Jan. 20, 2016) – The Westwood girls’ basketball team needed to get back on track following last Friday’s 47-46 loss to Dutch Fork.
Going into the Blythewood gymnasium and shutting down the arch rival Bengals 57-43 Tuesday night should help right the Lady Redhawks’ course.
“Once we got settled a little bit we were able to execute a little bit more,” Westwood head coach Gregory Bauldrick said. “Some of it was nerves, trying not to overcorrect coming off the Friday night loss. But once we settled down we started to play Westwood basketball.”
Unique Drake, Mya Belton and Maliyah Lockett all scored in double figures for Westwood (15-2, 3-1).
Lady Redhawks defender Morgan Britt probably had one of the tougher jobs, keeping standout Blythewood ball handler Lauren Harley somewhat contained for the evening. Harley finished the night with 18 points, but it was not enough to lift the Lady Bengals to victory.
“She’s a pretty good one-on-one defender,” Bauldrick said of Britt. “We wanted to neutralize Lauren. We wanted to do some things out of a zone, but every time we got into a zone, we lost track of where Lauren was, and we needed to go to man. Tiffany did an excellent job of keeping track of her.”
Westwood got off to a 12-6 lead to start the first quarter, but the Bengals (4-12, 1-2) battled it out in the second quarter. Harley and Daneshia Rikard had six points apiece in that period as the Bengals outscored the Redhawks 14-9.
Only an Essence Marshall foul shot kept Westwood ahead 21-20 at the half.
The score stayed close until the 5:47 mark of the third quarter, when Westwood went on an 18-5 scoring run to finish the period with a 45-31 lead. The Redhawks maintained that 14-point victory margin at the final buzzer.
Drake’s 13, Belton’s 12 and Lockett’s 11 points led the way for Westwood. Harley was the only scorer in double figures for the Bengals.
Westwood 57, Blythewood 43
WHS: 12-9-24-12 – 57
BHS: 6-14-11-12 – 43
W – Unique Drake 13, Mya Belton 12, Maliyah Lockett 11, T. Britt 7, Davis 4, M.Britt 4, Marshall 4, Houston 2. B – Lauren Harley 18, Rikard 8, Jackson 6, Ray 6, Greene 4, Weeks 1. REC: Westwood 15-2, 3-1, Blythewood 4-12, 1-2.
