Danville 72, Patriot Prep 24
The Danville Blue Devils (4-7, 2-5) combined a monster display of offense and defense against Patriot Prep, with Kylie Hess leading on both ends of the court in a blowout 72-24 win over Patriot Prep (2-2, 2-0) on Jan. 5.
The Blue Devils led from the start and never looked back. They took a 20-4 first quarter lead with Ella Proper draining a pair of threes and Jaylyn Workman scoring five points. Danville’s dominance continued into the second quarter, with the Blue Devils putting up 29 points and holding the Eagles to nine to take a commanding 49-13 halftime lead. Hess put up 13 points in the frame, including a make from downtown.
Danville outscored Patriot Prep 8-4 in the third and 15-7 in a running-clock fourth to close out the game, sealing the 48-point victory.
Hess tallied 19 points, five assists, five boards and three steals in the game. Workman put up 12 points, six rebounds and two steals. Proper had 10 points, two rebounds, four steals and an assist.
Faith Thomas of Patriot Prep made up nearly the entire Eagles' offense, scoring 21 of the team’s 24 points.
The defense was on-point for the Blue Devils, forcing 32 turnovers with 26 steals, including 17 in the first half. Danville also did a great job crashing the boards, with 20 offensive rebounds and 12 defensive rebounds.
“Last night's game was a good team win for us with everyone contributing and making plays on both ends of the floor,” said Danville girls basketball coach Matt Proper. “Everyone had a team-first, yet aggressive mindset for much of the game.”
Centerburg 61, Ridgedale 14
Kennedi Glenn was hot from beyond the arc with four threes in a massive first quarter against Ridgedale (1-4, 0-1), to lead the Centerburg Trojans (5-7, 1-4) to a crushing 61-14 win over the Rockets on Jan. 5.
Centerburg’s blowout was indicative from the opening tip, with the Trojans jumping out to a 31-3 lead after one quarter. Kennedi Glenn hit all four of her threes for 12 points and Kenlee Fairall scored seven points for the Trojans. Kayla Larimore had seven points and Avery Glenn also hit a three.
The second quarter was dominant as well with Centerburg scoring 13 points while again holding Ridgedale to three points. Chesnee Fairall scored nine points to lead the Lady Trojans in the second.
The Trojans held a 44-6 halftime lead, and they took the momentum into the third quarter, outscoring Ridgedale 11-4. The Trojans finished up with a running-clock 6-4 fourth quarter to wrap up the 47-point win. Tiara Sheppard had all five of her points in the second half.
Kennedi Glenn led the Lady Trojans with 12 points, including going 4-for-6 from three, with all the makes coming in the first quarter. She also had two assists, a rebound and a steal. Chesnee Fairall had 11 points, two steals, three boards and an assist. Larimore scored nine points, with four rebounds and four assists. Kenlee Fairall had two steals to go with her nine points. Avery Glenn did well finding open shooters with four assists to go with two points and two rebounds. Riley Skillman had four points and four boards.
East Knox 43, Mansfield Christian 33
Ella Divan was a force down the stretch, getting to the line and hitting all her free throws to lead the East Knox (EK) Bulldogs (4-9, 2-4) to a 43-33 win over Mansfield Christian (6-3, 1-1) on Jan. 5.
Both teams scored 11 points in the first quarter with Divan scoring four points, all on free throws. Natalie Smith added three points and Sydney Opfer scored two points for the 'Dogs. In the second quarter, East Knox outscored Mansfield Christian 10-4 and took a 22-15 lead into halftime. Molly Totten scored four points for EK in the quarter.
The Bulldogs had an 8-4 advantage in the third with baskets coming from Divan, Totten, Opfer and Kaya Salyers. In the fourth quarter, East Knox and Mansfield each scored 14 points. Divan had six points and made four free throws. Mack Ernsberger scored four points for EK.
Divan led the team in scoring with 12 points, which included going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Totten had eight points and Smith and Salyers each scored five points.
Utica 46, Lakewood 33
Abby Dickson was unstoppable down the stretch, scoring all 11 points in the fourth quarter for Utica (4-6, 1-4), who beat Lakewood 46-33 (3-7, 2-5), Jan. 6.
It was anyone’s game in the first quarter with both teams putting seven points on the board. Abby Paxton rainbowed a three in the corner to lead the Utica offense, while Dickson added a bucket for the Redskins. Delaney Kerstetter sank both her free throws to round out Utica's first quarter scoring.
The Redskins came out firing in the second quarter with 19 points while holding the Lancers to only five. Paxton hit a pair of threes and Dickson scored seven points, including one from deep. Kerstetter had four points and Skylar Parker added two points.
With Utica holding a 26-12 lead at the half, Lakewood had an 11-9 advantage in the third quarter to make it a 35-23 game going into the final frame. Dickson had seven points and Paxton scored the other basket.
In the fourth quarter, Dickson put up all of Utica's 11 points including five timely free throws to help secure the win for the Redskins.
Dickson led all scorers with 27 points on the night, including a pair of makes from downtown. She also went 5-for-7 from the charity stripe. Paxton had 11 points with three 3-pointers in the win.
Mount Gilead 53, Cardington-Lincoln 33
Mount Gilead (11-1, 6-0) and Cardington-Lincoln (7-5, 5-1) squared off in a battle between the two top teams in KMAC, but the first-place Indians proved to be as good as their record shows with a 53-33 win.
In the first quarter, Cardington-Lincoln was up 3-2, going on a three by Lydia Hess, but Candace Millisor gave the Indians a 5-3 lead on a three. Madison Caulkins of the Pirates kept the game close with a steal as they were down 7-6. Mount Gilead held a 13-9 lead after one.
Down 19-13 in the second, Caulkins came away with another steal for the Pirates. Faith White hit a three for Mount Gilead (MG) with about 4:30 remaining. MG's Lydia Stalnaker made it a 23-11 game just seconds later on a steal and layup combination and Aubrey Thomas authored a steal and a block to take a 25-15 lead for the Indians at halftime.
In the third quarter, Millisor sent a shot away with a blocked shot with 5:30 left and the Indians up 26-17. Soon after, MG's Madilyn Elson came away with a steal and took it to the basket to go up 31-19. Elson then drained a 3-pointer to go up 39-19. A highlight for Cardington-Lincoln was an acrobatic blocked shot by Caulkins, who was solid on defense throughout.The Indians outscored Cardington-Lincoln 14-4 in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Mount Gilead took care of business as each team scored 14 points.
Hess was the top performer for the Pirates with 12 points, five rebounds and a steal. Abigail Hardwick added six points, four rebounds and four assists. Caulkins scored six points, gathered six boards and had a steal and two blocks.
