RED DEVILS FIND POSITIVITY
By Matt Maher
CAMPBELL, OH – good things come to those who wait and Campbell has been waiting all seas, that’s 9 games, to finally earn their first home win of the season and it came against the struggling Leetonia Bears who are still waiting on their first game of the season. Despite a very slow start the Red Devils made adjustments and found their rhythm and came out on top with the 34-16 victory.
When you think of slow starts you typically think of maybe a 10-8 score with a lot of fouls and a timeout or two but this game took the word slow to heart when the first quarter ended with the score of 4-2 for the Red Devils. The game didn’t see many fouls to this point but the officials had no problem calling a multitude of jump balls and Leetonia had trouble passing the ball. The Bears lone scorer Breyle Merritt who found a hard fought layup. Campbell found all their scoring from Angelis Diaz who found two buckets in the paint and had an opportunity to score more from the line but Diamon Sims couldn’t get her throws to fly.
The second quarter looked more like a basketball game with Campbell scoring a much improved 9 points and Leetonia doubling their first quarter tally with 4. The Jumpballs kept on coming in this quarter and after the first quarter it became difficult to keep track of all of them but this game was determined to find ways to turn the ball over and give both squads opportunity in the offensive zone. Leetonia saw Merrit take advantage of one of the turnovers with another nice bucket and she also found herself at the free throw line where she made 1 of 2 shots. Star Neel also found the net in the form of a free throw as well going 1-for-2 from the stripe. Campbell saw three players score including Mileesa Williams and Angelis Espada who both found points in the paint and Sims who found a stride and hit an impressive 3 and made another bucket down the line.
Halftime brought a rested Red Devils team out on the floor and boy did that break help! Campbell put up 13 points in the quarter and held Leetonia to a mere 2 points. Leetonias scorer would be Taylor Chapman who used her size and strength to push through the defense and get a gritty score. The Red Devils would see another 3 made by Espada and Sims go 2-for-4 from the line but it would be Angeliz Diaz who would truly be the shining star because she erupted for 6 points in this frame and while that may seem like a small number I ask you to refer to the first quarter of this game.
Quarter 4 was a fairly even frame with Campbell scoring 8 more points and Leetonia matching their host with 8. Diaz added another 6 points to her total, allowing her to finish with her team leading 16 points. Rayona Floyd-Brown would add to the scoring with the other 2 points. Leetonia saw the combined efforts of Merritt and Chapman pay off with both players putting up 4 points in this quarter all from under the hoop with layups or hard fought for rebounds.
Despite the improved 4th quarter for the Bears, Campbell found their scores earlier and much more often and their continued pressure on Leetonia and the lucky turnovers they found all combined for the 34-16 win. Leetonia will be back home on January 8th when they host Southern at 7:00PM while Campbell will keep it in their neighborhood when they host Liberty on January 8th at 5:30PM.
