By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

VERSAILLES — The Lady Tigers won six games last season. On Dec. 27 against Botkins High School, the Versailles High School girls’ basketball team picked up their fifth win of the season with a 55-32 victory at home.

Head coach Tracy White said the team picked up a lot of confidence during the summer and it’s starting to show. This game is an indicator of how good this team can be.

“If they take any steps backwards, we are selling ourselves short. That’s the potential they have. That’s the capability they have for every game no matter who steps on the floor with them,” White said.

Versailles was up 29-20 at the half. Throughout the first half, they seemed like they were in control. They had some miscues, but never let the game get out of hand.

The Lady Tigers forced the Lady Trojans into outside shots and weren’t giving up anything easy within the arc. Botkins couldn’t knock down their long range attempts and had trouble breaking through the Versailles defense.

Versailles started to show their dominance at the start of the third quarter. Sophomore Taylor Wagner took over the game to extend Versailles’ lead.

She had 10 points at the half. Wagner went on to score eight points in the third quarter alone. Her teammates were able to find her in the post and she was able to create shots of her own.

White said Botkins plays a physical brand of basketball. While they didn’t have the size to match up with Wagner, they sent multiple players at her to try and make up for that weakness. Versailles was able to figure out the Botkins’ defense and take advantage of it’s shortcomings.

“They adjust really well to that. I felt like our girls still played through that and were managing to get her (Wagner) the ball,” White said. “She got some of her own points as well just dominating the boards.”

White also said it was a game where everybody did their job and did it well. The offense got into a rhythm and didn’t allow Botkins to get comfortable on defense.

It was also a game where the Versailles’ defense helped drive the offense. White said her team will be tough to beat if they can have their defense drive their offense.

“It didn’t matter what defense we ran. Wether we were in our trapping defense, our man to man defense, our zone or whatever it happened to be we were talking and communicating and everybody was one step ahead of the pass. That’s the emphasis that we had,” White said.

Wagner led the team with 18 points in the game. Junior Jenna Dirksen had 10 points in the game with seven of them coming in the second half as she faced foul trouble. Junior Cassie Leach scored all eight of her points in the first half to get the team rolling.

For Botkins, Camdyn Paul led her team with 13 points. The Lady Trojans were held to 12 points in the second half.

The Lady Tigers will have have some time off before their next game. They will host a 10-win Parkway High School team on Jan. 5

Contact Daily Advocate Sports Editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]