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Shadyside Prevails Against Pesky Martins Ferry

Wach Nets 18, While Hendershot Scores 17

Photo by Seth Staskey Shadyside’s Jaycee Mayeres looks to take a shot with Martins Ferry’s Shayla Schuster playing strong defense during Saturday’s game in Shadyside.

SHADYSIDE — It’s not how much a team wins by that determines how good it is. It’s simply about winning.

And good teams find ways to win games even when they maybe don’t have their best day.

Shadyside’s girls’ basketball team proves that. And it did so again Saturday in a hard-earned 56-51 victory against Martins Ferry.

“There are going to be trying times and games during any season, so I am happy with the win,” Shadyside coach Serge Gentile said. “There are going to be games where you have to just grind it out. This was one of them and we were able to make enough plays to get it done.”

It’s the second consecutive Saturday in which the Tigers took down the Purple Riders, who are clearly an improving basketball team.

“We’re really pleased with the effort the last few weeks,” Ferry coach Paul Matuska said. “We’re playing much more aggressively, starting to attack team rather than letting teams attack us. We didn’t take away a lot of things we wanted to today and Shadyside’s a good team that made us pay on that.”

One of those focal points of the Purple Riders scouting report was stopping the Tigers penetration, especially that of sophomores Tory Hendershot and Baylee Wach.

Both had strong games. Wach led all scorers with 18, while Hendershot slashed her way to 17.

And both of those players made their presence felt during a decisive second quarter in which the Tigers turned a six-point deficit into an eight-point halftime lead at 32-24.

“We tried to pick the pace up a little bit in that second quarter,” Gentile said. “The girls did an outstanding job in the press. I thought we were patient, trapped when we should have and didn’t try to go too early, which made it tough on them and allowed us to get out a little bit.”

The Riders didn’t go quietly in the second half. Junior Shayla Schuster caught fire from behind the 3-point line, burying a trio that allowed the Purple Riders to get within four at 44-40, entering the fourth.

Macy Coffland opened the fourth with a bucket for the Tigers. However, Ferry got as close as three thanks to a 3 and a run-out bucket by Ging, which was sandwiched around a Wach goal. Seemingly, Shadyside never allowed Ferry to go on any kind of spurt.

Wach hit a corner trey to push the margin back to six. Ferry only got as close as four the rest of the way.

“Ferry played well and you can look at their record or whatever, but they have a couple of girls who can make shots, a post player (Spielvogel) who is tough in there and they’re no slouch,” Gentile said.

Wach and Hendershot were complemented in the scoring column by Coffland’s nine.

Spielvogel and Ging each had 17 to pace the Riders. Schuster finished with 11.

Shadyside is back on the home boards Monday in a highly anticipated OVAC 2A title game rematch with River. Martins Ferry takes on Bridgeport the same evening.

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