The West Geauga Wolverines girls basketball team traveled to Independence Feb. 15 for a CVC conference regular season finale against the Blue Devils.
The West Geauga Wolverines girls basketball team traveled to Independence Feb. 15 for a CVC conference regular season finale against the Blue Devils.
Although the Wolverines got down early, they stayed focused and played with a high level of effort and intensity throughout the contest.
Trailing 27-21 entering the third quarter, the Wolverines erased a six-point halftime deficit and took a five-point, 39-34 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines then were able to hold off the Blue Devils fourth-quarter comeback attempt to claim a 49-45 victory.
“It was a great game all around,” West Geauga Head Coach Brandon Stewart said. “We have been looking this season to put four quarters together, and this has been the closest we have come to putting four quarters of effort, complete effort, together as a team.
“We want to be gelling at the right time going into the tournament, and they proved tonight that they can compete in the tournament.”
Certainly, helping the Wolverines girls to compete right away was freshman point guard Faelynn Beckrest.
In the first quarter, although West Geauga got behind early, Beckrest kept the Wolverines in the game by scoring all eight of their first-quarter points.
“Over the past few weeks, we have not been getting off to a (good) first quarter, so I knew we just had to (score points) to give us a chance to win the game,” Beckrest said. “So I tried to do the best I could to do that, and it worked out.”
Trailing 16-8 entering the second quarter, the Wolverines cut the Blue Devils’ lead down to six by halftime behind the leadership of senior Maggie Furst, who had seven second-quarter points.
After halftime, the Wolverines started strong, as Furst and Beckrest combined for 18 third-quarter points.
The Wolverines took the lead late in the third quarter when Furst hit two free throws with 1:55 left to give the Wolverines a 35-34 lead. Furst was a perfect 6-6 from the line in the third quarter.
In the last minute of the third quarter, Beckrest and Furst extended the Wolverine lead on two mid-range jump shots to make the score 39-34 heading into the fourth quarter.
In a post-game interview, Furst described her Wolverines’ mindset during halftime, which led to an excellent third-quarter run.
“We were sitting there (in the locker room) and we knew we were still in the game, and we knew we could not let the lead get any bigger,” Furst said. “So we just talked about what we were going to change, which was our tempo. We wanted to keep pushing the ball and be aggressive towards the rim.”
The Wolverines continued to play so aggressively in the fourth quarter that they were able to hold off the Blue Devil comeback attempt.
After their opponents tied the game at 45-45 with 58 seconds left, Beckrest was fouled with 50 seconds to go.
With the game on the line, Beckrest calmly stepped to the free throw line and sank two free throws to give the Wolverines a 47-45 lead.
Beckrest then completed the scoring for the Wolverines on a breakaway layup with three seconds remaining.
For the game, West G was led by Furst, going 7-15 from the field and 7-9 from the free throw line for 24 points. She also pulled down 24 rebounds.
Beckrest had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Contributing to the Wolverines’ offensive point total were Callie Kormos (4 points), Amelia Zaffiro (2), Ava Borz (2) and Michaela Platt (2).
The Wolverines would next begin OHSAA tournament play traveling to Canton Feb. 21. to take on Canton South.
