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Wheeling Central Turns Up Heat in Third, Routs Magnolia

Maroon Knights off to good start in ’16

Wheeling Central’s Taylor Duplaga (25) races up the floor as Magnolia’s Taylor Ludewig chases the play.

WHEELING — With a pair of freshmen in the starting lineup for Wednesday night’s season opener against visiting Magnolia, veteran Wheeling Central girls’ basketball coach Penn Kurtz was curious to see how his club was going to start.

After the first five minutes with his team trailing by 11 and both freshmen sitting on the bench with two fouls, he may have been wanting to head back to the locker room.

However, after cutting into that deficit throughout the first half, Kurtz’s girls came out on fire in the third quarter and dominated the rest of the way.

Junior Taylor Duplaga and freshman Eden Gainer spearheaded an 18-0 run in the third and the Maroon Knights didn’t take their foot off the gas the rest of the way, rolling to a 72-52 victory against the winless Blue Eagles on Coach “Skip” Prosser Court.

With seniors Taylor Ludewig and Kelsi Chapman leading the way, Magnolia (0-3) got off to a sizzling start, beginning on a 10-2 run and widening that margin to 15-4 with nearly five minutes gone in the opening quarter. But coach Tom Tisher’s squad, which hadn’t committed a turnover to that point, turned the ball over four consecutive times after a Central field goal, each one leading to baskets and just over a minute later it was a 15-14 score.

Magnolia finished the first with a 19-14 advantage, but the Knights scored the opening five of the second to tie the score on Riley Blaha’s triple at 6:44. However, the Blue Eagles responded and went to the half with a 32-28 lead.

The mistake-filled first half had a combined 26 fouls, 40 free throws and 26 turnovers. The biggest differece in the half was that even with the four-point lead, Magnolia only managed six field goals while hitting 19 of 24 free throws, while Central was 5 of 16 from the stripe and missed its initial seven.

“I was very curious to see how we would start out with our two freshmen in the starting lineup and it didn’t go very well, especially with both of them picking up two quick fouls,” Kurtz said. “But while I was not happy with how many times we sent them to the line, I was happy that we were able to hang in there with four starters sitting with two fouls each.”

For the fans in attendance the second half had to be almost like sitting through an entirely different basketball game. Central scored the first five points to take a one-point lead, and after Ludewig gave it back to the visitors with a 3-pointer, the Maroon Knights caught fire.

When the dust had settled at the 3:09 mark of the third, Wheeling Central had opened on a 25-3 run, which was capped by an 18-0 spurt that gave it a commanding 51-35 lead.

Central led 55-41 after three and the Blue Eagles were never able to recover as their hosts outscored them by a 44-20 margin in the second half.

“I honestly believe that we got a glimpse of the team that this has the capabilities of being in the second half,” Kurtz added. “If we can learn not to foul so much, which we did a better job of in the second half, we can be very good.

“With the foul troubles we had in the first half I was also very pleased with the effort out of our bench. The freshmen also came through for us in the second half and Taylor Duplaga took charge in the third quarter.

“This weekend is going to tell a lot about where this team is. We open with Clay County in the Williamstown Tournament and will play either Williamstown or Poca in the second round, which could be interesting.

“Then next week we are in a tournament at Glenville State and will open with St. Marys and then play either Tucker County or defending state champion Gilmer County. This team is really going to have to grow up fast.”

Duplaga led Wheeling Central with 19 points while sophomore Kaitlyn Ferns added 11 off the bench. Gainer scored 10 and Blaha added nine. Senior Jaela Manns had a game-high 10 rebounds as the Knights grabbed a 42-31 edge off the glass.

“These are the kinds of things we have been doing our first three games,” Tisher said. “Turning the ball over, not rebounding and getting into foul trouble. The Ohio teams we played, Monroe Central and Union Local, had a big advantage over us starting earlier, but we have to get better.

“We got off to a great start (Wednesday), but then we made a lot of mistakes and we still have a lot of work to do. The effort was definitely there, as it has been, but we have to get back to work. There are still 19 more games and everybody makes the tournament.

“It didn’t help us, especially on the boards, with our two post players in foul trouble, but I felt like Katie Hamrick and Logan Spencer did a good job off the bench and really busted their butts for us.”

Chapman and Ludewig finished with 19 points apiece for the Blue Eagles while Autumn Cecil and freshman Kyndra Pilant both pulled down seven rebounds.

The Wheeling Central boys will be back in action tonight as they play host to Clarksburg Notre Dame. There will also be a ceremony dedicating the court to late head coach Skip Prosser.

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