By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

VERSAILLES — It was a big day for the Mississinawa Valley girls basketball program. The fifth seed in the OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional took home a 69-33 win over 16th Riverside and junior Taylee Woodbury eclipsed 1,000 career points.

“It was exciting. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. I really appreciate them and their support throughout all of it,” Woodbury said.

Head coach Michael Paige said Woodbury is a gifted scorer who can catch fire at anytime. With the milestone in sight, not much could have stopped her from getting it in the first tournament game.

Paige said he is thrilled to see Woodbury hit it, especially during her junior year.

“We were hoping she got it today. With the tournament, we got a lot of other things to focus rather than her hitting that milestone,” Paige said. “We’re unbelievably happy for her. Hitting it as a junior is huge.”

Woodbury was 17 points away from the milestone entering the game. She is coming off an ACL injury she suffered late last season. She was out for both of the tournament games last season.

It wasn’t an easy start for Woodbury. She was physically ready, there was just a mental block. Once she played more games and gained more confidence, she started to play more and more like herself.

“I started off slow. I still had it in my head, it was kind of scary. I was scared,” Woodbury said. “But as I kept going, I felt more comfortable and I started playing like my normal self which helped.”

After leading 21-13 in the first quarter, the Lady Blackhawks started to get into a groove offensively. While it wasn’t a consistent offensive effort, they were able to string together runs to give themselves a cushion.

It was a 30-15 game four minutes into the second quarter. Mississinawa Valley ended the second quarter on a 16-2 run.

Paige said the offense can attack teams from the outside or hammer it inside. They will do whatever is working during a game to get the job done.

“We’re willing to let it go. We trust our bigs to rebound. We’ll play outside-in, we’ll play inside-out. However we need to get it done is what we’ll do,” Paige said.

All game long, the defense gave Riverside problems. Riverside senior Emma Saylor and junior Avery Perk are the leading scorers on the Lady Pirates. They both average just over eight points a game. Saylor had 14, but Paige said the defensive focus was on Perk not taking over the game. Perk ended with two points.

The team got to a running clock in the third quarter and kept up the defensive pressure. They were able to rotate in some of the reserve players to close out the game.

Woodbury finished with 25 points. Senior Brenna Price ended the game with 15 points.

The only glaring negative from the game was Mississinawa Valley’s free throw shooting. They were 2 for 11 from the free throw line. Paige said the team worked on shooting free throws all day yesterday, but will continue to work on it.

The Lady Blackhawks are one game away from getting a rematch against Tri-Village. Both teams need a win to meet in the Sectional final.

Paige said they can’t look too far ahead. They are focused on the next game.

“We just got to take it one game at a time. We’ll worry about Bradford and then we will focus on that after the Bradford game,” Paige said.

Mississinawa Valley will take on 19th seed Bradford on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. back at Versailles High School.

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