WALDRON
All the heartaches, disappointments and near-misses from a tough girls basketball season were forgotten Tuesday night as Edinburgh defeated host Waldron 45-34.
While the victory is only the team’s second in 18 games, it represents some fruit from the labors of coach Amy Macy’s young team.
The formula for victory was taking much better care of the basketball than normally has been the case this season, showing patience in a spread offense and playing airtight defense.
“They took better care of the ball and they played smart tonight,” Macy said. “We were tough to match up with when we stayed spread out.”
Specifically the offense, which featured four or five players spread around the perimeter, took Waldron shot-blocker Caitlin Hedman out of her comfort zone, opening up opportunities for the Lancers to score.
The player who took greatest advantage of this was sophomore point guard Vanessa Hoskins.
The ultra-quick Hoskins hit a key 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give Edinburgh a seven-point lead. She also scored on a pair of layups, once after grabbing a rebound and going coast-to-coast and once after making a steal in the backcourt.
Hoskins also made another steal and fed freshman Makenzie Hill for a layup that put the game away.
Hoskins finished with a team-high 17 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. The diminutive guard said the team has done well to stay motivated through a tough season.
“It takes all of us to be positive and help each other focus on winning instead of getting down,” Hoskins said. “We have three more games until sectionals, and we are hoping to get some more wins and move into sectionals playing strong.”
Allie Schooler was another vital performer for the Lancers with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Schooler’s strong performance on the board, along with eight from Kayli Littiken, helped compensate for the absence of rebounding stalwart Mariah Weddle, who was out with a concussion.
The first half was played at a relatively slow tempo. Edinburgh made it through the first eight minutes without committing a turnover, a noteworthy feat considering how big of an issue taking care of the ball has been this season for the Lancers.
Pressure defense in the second quarter helped Edinburgh force a few turnovers of its own, and the game was close at halftime.
It was a meandering third quarter marked by about four and a half minutes with neither team scoring, but Edinburgh took its first lead at 24-23 when Schooler hit a short jumper with 2:53 remaining in the period.
The team defense was strong and held the Mohawks (3-14) to just a field goal for the entire eight minutes.
“We took some good shots and took the ball to the hole. We put in a good defense, which I think helped get the team fired up,” Macy said.
“We had players out with injury (Weddle) and sickness (Bailey Woodall) and then fouls (Littiken), but we got some bench players to step up and it was just a good team win.”
The Lancers will play Thursday at Trinity Lutheran.
