Lake County Sentinel
Lady Devils run over Patriots 62-25
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(WICKLIFFE, OH) - Monday night the Wickliffe High School Lady Blue Devils (1-0) welcomed the Open Door Christian Patriots (0-1) to the Campus of Wickliffe. The Blue Devils who last season were lead the majority of the time by sophomore Ava Gabriel. Gabriel is now a junior and has more help. It showed as the Lady Devils handled Open Door 62-55 for their first win of the season and their first win ever in the “Blue Gym” at the new campus.
The game was never close as the Lady Devils went on a 17-0 run to start the game and led 19-2 at the end of the first period. The Patriots didn’t score until there was just :27.2 left on the first quarter clock. The first quarter Devils scoring effort was led by Gabriel who had seven points in the first eight minutes of the contest. Wickliffe shot 57% (8 of 14) from the field while the Patriots really struggled shooting 9% (1 of 11). The Lady Devils also had the advantage on the glass pulling down five rebounds while the Patriots pulled down four.
The second quarter was a little closer as Wickliffe outscored ODC 11-7 to take a 30-9 lead into halftime. Wickliffe cooled off shooting only 38% (5 of 13), while the Patriots improved slightly shooting 27% (3 of 11). Gabriel led all scorers at the break with 13 points. The Patriots were led by junior Lilly Pierre who had four first half points. Rebounds remained close, but Wickliffe still held the advantage 9-8.
One thing was apparent in the game was Wickliffe had more than one option to score, which was not the case most of last season. In the third quarter the Lady Devils extended their lead to 47-20 when time ran out. Gabriel finished the third quarter and her night with 18 points, but other Wickliffe players showed they could also provide offense to second year coach Jason Moulton’s offense. Senior Eliza Wills and Gabriel led Wickliffe with five points each in the third. Two freshman Leigha Wilford and Sophia Ervin both scored their first varsity points with two each in the quarter, both showed good skills under the hoop in the paint.
The final eight minutes belonged to the benches for both teams. Gabriel did not play in the fourth for Wickliffe, but Wilford and Ervin picked up the slack as they combined for 12 of the Blue Devils 15 points, each putting in six points all in the paint.
The Lady Devils will be in action again on Wednesday night when they travel to Conneaut to take on the Spartans at 6 pm..
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 11/27/2023 22:06
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Wickliffe junior Ava Gabriel drains a three. Photo by Rebecca Shirer
Photos by Rebecca Shirer
Photos by Rebecca Shirer
