WAYNESVILLE — Madison girls basketball coach Tommy McGuire wasn’t apprehensive heading into his Mohawks’ conference clash against the unbeaten Waynesville Spartans on Thursday night.
“The only thing I was worried about was our depth with the injuries and stuff that we’ve had,” McGuire said. “I always feel like no matter who’s on the floor, we should try to compete — and no matter who we’re playing against. I don’t care who we’re playing against.
“We just need to go out and play. We did that at times, and other times we didn’t.”
Avery Whitaker scored 17 points, Tori See added 13 and 10th-ranked Waynesville supplied its full-court pressure defense from start to finish to register a 62-33 Southwestern Buckeye Conference Buckeye Division victory over injury-depleted Madison.
The Spartans (13-0, 7-0 SWBL), who forced the Mohawks into 15 turnovers in the first half, led 16-9 after the first quarter and 32-13 at the half.
“Our woes were from taking the ball out of bounds to getting it past half court,” McGuire said. “At some point, no matter what we rep in practice, someone is going to have to step up and be strong with the ball. If we do stuff well that we should be doing well consistently, will that change the outcome? Maybe. Maybe not. But we would be in a better position.”
Madison (11-3, 5-2 SWBL) had its 10-game winning streak snapped. Ally Crim and Kylie Wells bucketed nine points apiece to pace the Mohawks.
“I thought at times we fought,” McGuire said. “That’s what I was proud of. We battled through some adversity. We’ve just got to get healthy.”
INJURY BUG
Madison has taken a hit on its roster the last couple of weeks and was short-staffed Thursday night.
Sophomore Livia Carpenter, who sees significant minutes, was out with a high-ankle sprain. McGuire said three other players on the varsity and junior varsity rosters were out for various health reasons.
“This has been our luck right now,” McGuire said. “I gave the girls the next two days off to heal. We’ve played three games in four days this week. They just need to get away.”
IN THE KNOW
Waynesville leads the SWBL averaging 63 points a game and holding opponents to 30.8 a game. … Waynesville has won seven in a row and 13 out of the last 14 against Madison. … The Mohawks last beat the Spartans 53-52 on Dec. 3, 2019. … Madison’s defense came into Thursday night’s contest second in the SWBL giving up 32.5 points a game.
THE LAST MEETING
Waynesville knocked off Madison 57-47 to hand the Mohawks their first conference loss on Nov. 30. Katie Berrey scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Spartans in the first contest. Wells had 16 to pace Madison that night.
UP NEXT
Waynesville travels to Brookville on Saturday, while Madison heads to Preble Shawnee on Monday.
Other area girls basketball results:
MONROE 40, FRANKLIN 22
Saffron Weidner scored a team-high 11 points, Paityn Corthell and Ryan Buskirk added eight apiece and the Hornets beat the Wildcats on Thursday night.
Emma Adolph had seven points and 11 rebounds for Monroe, which led 23-14 at the half. The Hornets (7-7, 3-2 SWBL) have won two out of their last three games.
The Wildcats (3-10, 2-6 SWBL) have lost three in a row and 10 out of their last 11.
BELLBROOK 66, EDGEWOOD 39
Taylor Scohy scored a team-high 19 points and the Eagles stormed out to a 16-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back.
The Cougars (3-7, 1-4 SWBL) have lost three out of their last four games. Bellbrook (9-2, 6-0 SWBL) has won five out of its last six.
