As winter finally arrived in Fayette County, the Washington Lady Blue Lions welcomed the Logan Elm Braves from Pickaway County for a non-conference game Wednesday night, Jan. 9.
After a good start but a tough second quarter, the Lady Lions came roaring out of the locker room to start the third quarter and played much better, defeating Logan Elm, 59-43.
Washington junior Rayana Burns was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points.
Junior Shawna Conger and senior Hannah Haithcock both scored 11 points for the Lady Lions. Conger hit three of her team’s four three-point field goals. Senior Bre Taylor had the other one.
Junior Abby Hatter led Logan Elm with 15 points. She had three threes.
Sophomore Riley Schultz scored nine points and sophomore Brynn Griffith scored eight. Logan Elm has no seniors on its team.
Washington led 6-0 and 8-3 to start the game.
At the end of the first quarter, Washington was in front, 13-7.
After making 3 of 10 field goal attempts in the first quarter, Logan Elm ignited in the second, connecting on 8 of 12 shots and scoring 20 points, while Washington made 3 of 10 shots and totalled nine points.
Logan Elm held a 27-22 halftime lead.
As they started the game, Washington started the third quarter with a 6-0 run. The lead changed hands four times in the third quarter with Logan Elm last having a lead of 31-30 with 4:37 to play in the quarter.
The Lady Lions closed out the third quarter with a 10-0 run to go in front, 40-31.
Washington led by as many as 22 points after a basket from junior Halli Wall with just over two minutes remaining.
Rebounding turned out to be a key factor for the Lady Lions.
Tabby Woods led Washington with eight rebounds, including six offensive.
Bre Taylor and Kassidy Hines both had six rebounds.
“Our guards did a tremendous job on the boards,” Washington head coach Samantha Leach said. “We had 21 offensive rebounds. Our goal is 16 every game.
“I was not impressed with how we started the game this evening,” Leach said. “We were just very flat. Defensively, we were not sound.
“I commend the girls for their effort in the second half,” Leach said. “It was completely different. They did an excellent job on defense, holding Logan Elm to four points for probably 12 minutes. They did a great job coming out fired up to start the third like they should have done (to start) the first.
“We talked about two things we needed to improve on from the Unioto game and that was rebounding and finishing strong,” Leach said. “I feel the girls did both of those things this evening. I was very pleased with their effort in those two areas.”
“I think we came out more ready to play than they did,” Logan Elm head coach Tom Congrove said. “Our girls are doing a lot of good things right now.
“We kind of anticipated coming out of the halftime that they would turn it up a little bit,” Congrove said. “Give them credit. They knocked some shots down in the third quarter that we weren’t able to contest.
“I think we probably gave up six to eight offensive rebounds there in the third quarter,” Congrove said. “Against a team like that that’s quick and can shoot it, if you don’t do those little things, like contesting rebounds, you’re going to have a hard time winning those games.”
Washington (9-4 overall) is back in action Saturday, returning to Frontier Athletic Conference play with a game at Hillsboro. The j-v game starts the action at 5:30 p.m.
Logan Elm (6-7 overall) returns to league play at Liberty Union Friday night.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
W 13 9 18 19 — 59
LE 7 20 4 12 — 43
WASHINGTON —Rayana Burns 6-5-17; Bre Taylor 1 (1)-0-5; Kassidy Hines 0-1-1; Tabby Woods 2-0-4; Halli Wall 3-0-6; Shawna Conger 1 (3)-0-11; Maddy Jenkins 0-0-0; Hannah Haithcock 5-1-11; Abby Tackage 0-0-0; Aaralyne Estep 0-0-0; Jeleeya Tyree-Smith 2-0-4. TOTALS — 20 (4)-7-59. Free throw shooting: 7 of 11 for 64 percent. Three-point field goals: Conger, 3; Taylor. Field goal shooting: 24 of 57 for 42 percent. Turnovers: 10.
LOGAN ELM —Karlee Thomas 0 (1)-0-3; Abby Hatter 2 (3)-2-15; Bri Sowers 0-0-0; Sydney Spires 0-1-1; Abby Hardin 0 (1)-0-3; Riley Schultz 4-1-9; Megan Diehl 2-0-4; Ashton Fox 0-0-0; Brynn Griffith 4-0-8. TOTALS — 12 (5)-4-43. Free throw shooting: 4 of 8 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Hatter, 3; Thomas, Hardin. Field goal shooting: 17 of 42 for 40 percent. Turnovers: 15.
