Wolves outlast Tigers

WINFIELD - It went right down to the wire in Friday night's girls basketball season opener between Winfield-Mt. Union and New London. The Wolves scored a comeback victory, erasing a four-point fourth quarter deficit to pull out a 49-46 victory.

The Wolves were red-hot in the first quarter. W-MU lit the Tigers up from down town and scored a game-high 17 points in the period, led by Jami Wilkerson's six points. New London was able to stay in the game by feeding Layney Loyd for seven points down low, but the Wolves held a 17-9 advantage after one quarter.

Loyd had a dominant first half down low. She added six more points in the second quarter and led the Tigers back within one points before halftime. W-MU held a 26-25 advantage at the break.

Marah Hartrick started to heat up for New London in the third quarter. She knocked down two three-pointers and Loyd added five more of her own. The Tigers outscored the Wolves 14-9 in the third quarter to take a 39-35 lead into the final period.

The Wolves came out strong in the fourth quarter. Wilkerson sparked an early run with a coast-to-coast layup off a steal, Jobey Malone scored six points in the quarter, and the Wolves built a four-point lead of their own, at 47-43.

'I was really pleased with how we responded to start the fourth quarter,” W-MU head coach Mitch Wachs said. 'Jami Wilkerson played a heck of a game. There were two big situations where she got steals and got layups going the other way to kind of get us going.”

Up four points with two minutes to play, W-MU wasn't out of the woods yet. Hartrick sliced the Wolves' lead to one point with her third three-pointer of the game to cut it to 47-46.

Wilkerson was fouled in the single bonus with 9.4 seconds left to go in the game. She banked both free throws in to stretch the lead to three. New London called a timeout with six seconds left and drew up a play that saw Hartrick spring open for a corner three, but the shot rimmed out and W-MU survived.

'We went into the timeout and I just said ‘Who wants the shot,' said New London head coach Chad Wahls. 'Without hesitation, she said ‘I do,' which is exactly what every coach wants. It was down and in and out. It was a great look, and we ran the play exactly how we designed, it just didn't fall.”

Wilkerson led W-MU with 18 points, six steals and four assists. She went 6-10 from the field and 4-8 from three-point land. She was one of nine Wolves to score, a big boost for a squad that lost Jenna Buffington, last year's leading scorer, to an injury during volleyball season.

'We knew that people would have to make more shots,” Wilkerson said. 'We didn't want to be hesitant shooting it. We weren't hesitant, and we made a lot of shots tonight.”

Keetyn Townsley ended the game with seven points. Farrah Nelson had seven points and 12 rebounds, and Malone finished with six of her own. Ali Cockerham, Kyndal Townsley and Keely Malone scored three points each. Melina Oepping had two, and Bradie Buffington had one.

Loyd finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers. Hartrick scored 15. Krieger had six. Natalie Burden scored five, and Addie Pry scored two.

New London also played on Saturday, playing Davis County in a road game. After trailing 25-13 at halftime, the Tigers cut the lead to single digits, but eventually fell 47-38.

Loyd had 22 in that loss. Krieger had eight, and both Pry and Hartrick had four.

Both teams play next on Tuesday, Nov. 26. W-MU (1-0) plays Mediapolis on the road, and New London (0-2) hosts Cardinal.