VANDALIA – The Greenville Lady Wave had their two-game winning streak snapped by the opportunistic Vandalia-Butler Aviators Wednesday night, 44-30.
Greenville saw its record drop to 11-8 and 8-6 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. Vandalia improved to 13-6 and 9-2 in the GWOC with its only losses coming to two stellar squads in Trotwood-Madison and Tippecanoe.
A vociferous crowd of 300 saw the Lady Aviators celebrate senior night with their sixth straight win. Flowers for fellow seniors also were given out to the Lady Wave graduates-to-be in Payton Brandenburg and Cassie Cromwell.
The Wave drew first blood in the initial quarter by having junior sharpshooter Jada Garland knock down a trey to make it 3-0 for the visitors. Vandalia responded by zipping up and down the court for 6 straight in this nip-and-tuck quarter that ended up 10-8 Aviators favor.
Garland led the Wave attack in the quarter with 6 points, all from way downtown .The Lady Wave finished out the scoring with junior Lori Shilt knocking in her only points of the night with a deuce.
Abbie Schoenherr showed her might for the Aviators with 4 points on two inside buckets.
The Wave hit a cold spell in the second canto and could only muster 6 points as several shots went in and then out. Cromwell canned 4 points to lead the Wave going into the half down by 8 at 22-14. Vandalia was led by Senior Willow Knight with 7 points by converting two trifectas.
Third quarter theatrics saw the Aviators still flying high as they expanded their lead to a baker’s dozen at 31-18. Knight popped in 4 more to lead the Montgomery County squadron followed closely by Gracie Price’s old-fashion 3.
The Wave were held to 4 points for the entire quarter with junior Saki Nakamura knocking in a deuce matched by Cromwell in this low-scoring quarter for both teams.
Fourth quarter firings saw the Wave hit an even dozen to almost match their first half total of 14. Rachel Kerns’ squad was led by sophomore Addie Haupt electrifying the crowd with 5 points off the bench at the Student Activity Center. Haupt was followed closely by long range specialist Garland who had another one of her 3-pointers.
Tyree Fletcher led the Aviators with 6 points while Knight was lights out again with 5 to aid the Aviators in getting 13 in eight minutes of highly physical play.
Scoring for the Wave had Garland leading all Wave players with 9 points, Cromwell had 6, Haupt 5, Brandenburg 3, Haleigh Mayo 2, Nakamura 2, Shilt 2 and Koryann Elliott finished out the scoring with 1. Final offerings for the Lady Wave show three 3-pointers, eight regulars and five freebies for their total of 30.
The Aviators final scoring had Maddie Mitchell with 4 points, Price 3, Schoenherr 9, Fletcher 10 and Knight with a game-high 18 points. Final tallies showcased the purple and gold with three triples, 13 regulars and nine freebies from the charity stripe for a grand finale of 44.
“We were really hurting tonight without Morgan Gilbert as she is the one that controls the tempo for us,” Greenville girls basketball coach Rachel Kerns said. “Our squad needs to finish and get to the free throw line. The second half we gave up way too many easy baskets, and we definitely need to get to the free throw line more. We only ended up with seven offensive rebounds for the night. On the positive we never quit hustling while Addie Haupt and Jada Garland played well.”
