SALEM STRIKES QUICK FOR A WIN

By Ty Bartell

GIRARD OH- Leading into the official winter break, a handful of girls basketball teams were in-action Saturday afternoon prior to the holiday. One of those matchups was a non-conference battle between the Eastern Buckeye Conference’s (EBC) Salem Quakers and the Northeast 8 Conference’s (NE8) Girard Indians. Both teams entered Saturday needing a win to pretty up the record and get some more confidence rolling in each respective program.

The Quakers wasted little time grabbing an advantage, after starting out the game down 2-0, Salem sprinted ahead off a 9-0 run to hold a 19-8 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter was a closer contest, but Salem still got the edge 14-10 to take a 33-18 leading into the halftime locker room.

The definitive point in the ball game came in the third quarter when The Quakers effectively extended their advantage once again off the backs of a 20-7 third quarter against Girard to take a commanding 53-25 lead into the final eight minutes of play. With more of the reserves in, Girard would be a bucket better than Salem in the fourth at 13-11, but it would do little to change the outcome with The Quakers claiming the win with a final of 64-38 over The Indians.

Player of the Game honors were charred amongst a pair of Quaker teammates with Rylee Hutton, who led the way with 20 points while simultaneously finding assists to her teammates in the win, and Lauryn Barton who finished with 17 points and was a rebounding rock for Salem. Following those two, Salem also had Riley Flikinger score 15 points and Maddy Andres score 8 points! For Girard, they were led in scoring by Ally Gassman who had 16 points followed by Makenzee White who finished with

Salem (3-7) will now set their weights back on EBC play as they travel to Alliance (3-8) to battle The Aviators in the new year on Wednesday, January 3rd. Meanwhile, Girard (3-6) will try to get back in the win column when they travel to McDonald (4-3) in a boys and girls doubleheader the day after Christmas on Tuesday, December 26th. Keep updated with both Salem and Girard basketball this season with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!

Game Photos HERE: https://ysn.smugmug.com/12-23-g-bb-girard-niles/12-23-g-bb-girard-salem/103EOS1D/