Clay City delivers a 52-28 blizzard to WRV

Claire Hostetter (white) goes up for a shot between two Clay City defenders.

By Andrew Bowen

SWITZ CITY -- Clay City exploited the Lady Wolverines Arctic shooting Monday night to post a 52-28 romp on the road.

The Lady Eels (6-1, 2-0 in Southwest Indiana Athletic Conference play) outscored their hosts 21-8 in the second half to post the win. WRV fell to 2-6, 1-1.

“We were pleased with our defense. We gave them looks in the first half,” said Clay City coach Chris Ames, noting he spoke to the Lady Eels about their defense at the break. “We were more active in the second half.”

Addi Graves goes in for a layup against Clay City. She led WRV with 13 points.

By Andrew Bowen

“Our offense never got warmed up,” WRV coach Mark Graves said. “We couldn’t buy a basket in the third quarter and the fourth. We got some decent looks.”

Avalee Jeffers led all scorers with 22 points for Clay City. Ames noted Jeffers did more than just score for Clay City. He cited a fourth-quarter play where she made a nifty pass to set up a bucket by Kinley Dickson.

“She had a great game tonight,” Ames said. “She’s playing all around. She’s just making us a better team.”

Jailyn Lundy goes in for a layup after stealing the ball.

By Andrew Bowen

Andrea Steward and Madelyn Ames both scored nine for the Lady Eels, Ames sinking three trifectas.

Addi Graves led WRV with 13 points, breaking her string of 20-plus games at three. Better passing would have led to more points, coach Graves said.

“We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball, making an extra pass to get an open look,” he said.

Clay City led only 14-10 after one quarter of play as Lacey Fisher knocked down a couple of treys for WRV. The Lady Eels increased their margin to 31-20 at the break. Graves scored three of her points in this frame while Claire Hostetter and McKinley Frye added a bucket apiece.

Then the blizzard struck. The Lady Eels limited their foes to eight in the second half and walked away with the win.

“It was a nice SWIAC battle. We hit more shots,” coach Ames said. “Coach Graves does a great job. That team will get better.”

“We just did not play well. We’re capable. Clay City is a good team,” Graves said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Clay City, but we’re capable of playing better. We will learn from it.”

WRV edged Clay City 30-28 in the junior varsity contest. The Lady Eels led 3-2 after a low-scoring first period, but WRV rallied to take an 11-8 halftime lead. The Lady Wolverines maintained that slim margin throughout the second half.

Hailey Copeland led the Lady Eels with 12 points, Emily Hyatt tossed in seven, Kendra Wertz contributed five, and Stella Harrison and Sarah Koonce both scored two.

Scorers for the Lady Wolverines were: Jailyn Lundy, 13; Katryna Zimmerly, six; MyLee Campbell, three; and Payton Franklin, Baylee Wilson, Jailea Lundy, and Hannah Halt, two apiece.

The Lady Wolverines will host Brown County at 6:00 p.m. Thursday. Graves said the Lady Wolverines will watch mucho film before then to learn how to improve their game.

“We’ve got a good group of girls,” Graves reflected. “We’ll be able to learn something from the game and move forward.”

Clay City 14 17 10 11 -- 52

WRV 10 10 2 6 -- 28

CLAY CITY (52)

Hernandez 2 0-0 5, Grassick 0 0-1 0, Steward 3 2-4 9, Hyatt 0 0-0 0, Walton 1 1-3 3, Harrison 0 0-0 0, Ames 3 0-0 9, Jeffers 9 4-7 22, Dickson 2 0-0 4, Myers 0 0-0 0, Koonce 0 0-0 0, Wertz 0 0-0 0, TEAM 20 7-15 52.

WHITE RIVER VALLEY (28)

Graves 5 2-4 13, Frye 1 0-0 2, Hostetter 1 1-4 3, Franklin 0 0-0 0, Fisher 2 0-0 6, McDonald 0 0-0 0, Stahl 1 0-0 2, Halt 0 0-0 0, Jailyn Lundy 1 0-0 2, Thrasher 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0-0 0, TEAM 11 3-8 28.

Three-Point Shooting: Clay City 5 (Ames 3, Hernandez 1, Steward 1), WRV 3 (Fisher 2, Graves 1).