By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

BRADFORD — The Lady Railroaders get their first win under head coach Josh Siedling as they defeated Twin Valley South, 37-25, at home on Nov. 30.

Siedling said he was happy for the girls to come away with the win. They were able to hold off Twin Valley South in the second half and played to win that game.

“I’m happy for the girls more than anything. We need a win because they can see now what it takes to get it done. Wish we had the Fairlawn game back. Same situation, leading at halftime,” Siedling said. “We just didn’t know how to control and play with a lead yet. We haven’t been in that situation. Today, they responded very well.”

It all started with the team’s calling card, defense. They held the Lady Panthers to nine points in the first half. Even after Twin Valley South started to speed up their offense, Bradford held strong and kept momentum during the game.

The pace of the game got to the Lady Railroaders offense a little bit. They started to go a little too fast on the offensive end. Siedling said they want to slow the pace offensively and then speed up teams defensively.

“We were playing like we were down. Instead, we need to slow it down on offense. Defensively, we can speed people up but offensively we need to slow it down. Tonight, they responded well. So proud of them, could not be more happy for them,” Siedling said.

The players were hustling all game long for loose balls and were aggressive in their soft, full court press. Bradford got some turnovers and were able to get points off them.

The defense helping the offense led to Bradford having a lead the whole game. For good measure, freshman Vivian Harleman stepped up in the fourth quarter to separate themselves from Twin Valley South.

Harleman had three made three-pointers in the fourth and 11 total points in the final quarter. Siedling said Harleman is a knock down shooter and have instilled confidence in her to keep shooting. No matter if they go in or not, they know Harleman can knock down a few shots when needed.

“You can’t shy away from the moment and she (Harleman) did not shine away from the moment. Hats off to her, she’s staying true to her work, staying true to shooting. She did a great job out there keeping us afloat where it was kind of iffy,” Siedling said.

The offense as a whole has improved from last season. Bradford has gone back to back games scoring 37 points. Last season, their highest point total was 35 points.

Siedling said all the hard work during the summer when they had a skills camp to the offseason workouts have all paid off. The team is more confident in their offensive abilities and it’s starting to show on the court.

“It started from summer, having all the buy in and the camp we this summer. Staying true to our workouts over this offseason and with such a young group, it can either go one or two ways. All the confidence leaves or you can constantly build on that confidence. Slowly, they’re starting to realize, ‘We’re actually pretty good. We can go ahead and we can do this and get it done,’.” Siedling said.

Harleman led the team with 14 points. Sophomores Claire Hill and Ryleigh Dotson both had six points. The team made seven threes in this game.

They will look to build on this win with a few games this upcoming week. After hosting East Dayton Christian on Dec. 2, they will host Middletown Christian on Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. and then go to Newton on Dec. 8 with tipoff at 6 p.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]