BIG DUB FOR THE DEVILS
BERLIN CENTER OH- Thursday night on the network saw various girls basketball conference matchups take place, primarily occurring in The Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC). The Scarlet Division of The MVAC had a premier matchup happening in Berlin Center when The Western Reserve Blue Devils hosted The Waterloo Vikings. In the last meeting in Atwater, The Viking were able to claim the 6 point victory. After losing three consecutive matchups to The Vikings, this one was of high importance to The Blue Devils.
The first quarter saw teams exchange buckets with Brook Schantz nailing down a three pointer for Western Reserve, while Rose Couts hit a mid ranger for Waterloo. The two teams played with the lead early on in the quarter before Reserve started to pull away late in the first. Impressively, The blue Devils did not relinquish the lead from that point on!
Alyvia Hughes and Lisa Eichert did a great job establishing a paint presence, both offensively and crashing the glass in the rebounding department. While seeing Lindsay Jones back on a basketball court is a great sight and an example of hardwork and accomplishing a long journey back! Kaira English and Rose Couts were scoring in bunches for Waterloo and several times helped cut the Western Reserve lead down to a single possession. But for every run Waterloo would muster up, The Blue Devils had a response and kept them at bay.
A lot of great performances attributed to a 40-36 win for The Blue Devils, allowing them to split the regular season series with Waterloo! The Player of The Game performance went to Brooke Schantz who controlled the tempo throughout all four quarters, while contributing offensively, consistently, throughout. All while shouldering a ton of pressure down the stretch when both Hughes and Eichert were in foul trouble. Schantz hit a game-sealing free throw that stretched the lead to four and clinched the victory for Western Reserve!
Both teams will be in-action again on Monday, January 23rd. Following the loss, Waterloo (10-6)(6-2) will be back home to host McDonald (5-9)(1-6). While Western Reserve (11-4)(5-2) will stay home to host Lowellville (7-8)(2-5). Interviews with winning Head Coach Steve Miller and Player of The Game Brooke Schantz can be found below!
*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell
