Lady Wolves survive minor scare

WINFIELD — Holy Trinity gave the Winfield-Mount girls basketball team a sweat in Tuesday night’s regional quarterfinal game, but the Wolves did what they needed to do to move on to the next round.

The Wolves used 38 combined points from junior duo Bradie Buffington and Keely Malone to pull past the Crusaders, 55-48.

“You don't get style points this time of year,” said WMU head coach Mitch Wachs. “You're just happy to advance.”

If style points were going to be won, it happened in the first quarter. After Holy Trinity scored the first three points, WMU started pounding away inside for a 23-2 run that was seemingly the beginning stages of a blowout.

Buffington, in particular, was dominant inside in the first eight minutes, putting up seven points in the opening period as WMU enjoyed a 23-7 lead after the first horn.

“It's the best time in the year,” said Buffington. “The intensity really brings us up and gets us going.”

But Holy Trinity wouldn’t go quietly into the night. The Crusaders clawed back in the second period, taking advantage of some WMU foul trouble to get the game back within reach. The Wolves’ lead was just six, 33-27 at halftime.

And then in the third quarter, it got even tighter. Holy Trinity outscored WMU 14-10 in the third quarter, threatening to tie or take the lead on a couple of different occasions. With eight minutes left, the Wolves’ lead was 43-41.

It was WMU, however, that made the plays down the stretch. A solid defensive quarter and a couple of key outside shots from Malone, who hit five 3-pointers on the night, was enough to help the Wolves survive and advance.

“I had a lot of confidence coming into this game,” Malone said. “Our shooting had been in a drought coming into it, but I knew we were going to come out guns blazing.”

Buffington ended the night with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Keely Malone had 18 points and eight assists. Keetyn Townsley went for seven points and 11 rebounds. Melina Oepping scored five points. Jobey Malone had four, and Carlee Sloan scored one.

The Wolves are now 19-4. They will head to No. 7 Notre Dame (21-0) for Friday’s Class 1A Region 6 semifinal. The Nikes have knocked the Wolves out of the postseason for two-straight years.

“We respect them, and they're a good team, but we've gotten beat too many times by them,” said Malone. “We're going to get this one.”