HOLMES TOWNSHIP – Emotions were high in the Michael A. Johnson Gymnasium Friday night.
Wynford held a district wide “Pink Out” to honor the late Dawn Schaaf who passed away from breast cancer in August. The school has now created a scholarship in her name and had a bake sale, basket raffles, king of the court, and more during a Northern 10 clash with Carey.
The Blue Devils ultimately won 33-20 capitalizing on a night where the Royals shot just 14.6% (6-of-41) from the field.
“I thought we did a good job crashing the boards early, (but) we didn’t handle their pressure really at all,” Wynford coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon said. “I thought they did a great job pressuring the ball, and when you have pressure, your shots are rushed and you aren’t setting things up like you ought to. I need to have us find a way to have more opportunities where we have better composure.
“We have to get as many opportunities as possible with offensive rebounds and try to create some things defensively and do our best. But they did a great job locking Caroline (Sheldon) down and got the best of her there. And it took a long time to recover, just have to get back to the drawing board and work on some things.”
It’s the second consecutive game the Royals have struggled offensively after scoring just 27 in a loss to Upper Sandusky last weekend where they shot 21.6% from the field. But also in both games, their defense kept them in it.
Even in the 13-point loss to Carey, the Blue Devils didn’t stretch their lead until midway through the fourth quarter.
“They only had 17 points at halftime … I thought we did a good job blocking out (and) trying to get stops and convert,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “We made a good run there at the beginning of the third to cut it to five. But with scoring as sparse as it is, we have to take advantage of our possessions.”
Caroline Sheldon led the Royals with six points, Jenna Filliater and Maradath Engler added five apiece, Rylee Robinson and Paige Sheldon two each.
“Defensively I thought, what we really did a very good job,” Carey coach Keith O’Flaherty said. “Holding the top scorer in the N10 to six points, four of them free throws towards the end, and scoreless in the first half … I thought Adalyn (Ritter) did an excellent job on her.
“They disrupted our offense quite a bit. They’re a quick team, they’re a physical team, they dig in, they have good help side defense when needed, and they’re very disciplined on the defensive end. It made us work for every point we got … luckily we got enough to come up with a win here.”
Back-to-back losses for the Royals effectively puts them out of the N10 title race. Carey and Colonel Crawford both sit tied at the top with one loss apiece.
“We control our own destiny,” O’Flaherty said. “We gotta play Crawford next Saturday, that’s probably going to be for the league title … it’s no secret, it’s going to be a tough game. But this league is awesome for the simple fact you’ve gotta come ready to play every game, nothing’s a given.”
But Friday was about more than basketball.
“I expect we’ll probably have seven or eight thousand dollars to start out between generous community sponsors, the bake sale, t-shirts, all those things,” Taylor-Sheldon said of the scholarship. “Helping a student further their education who has special needs, or struggled academically, or has shown exceptional courage or kindness … and honor her memory. Two parents on our team had breast cancer — Toni Ridge and Amber Robinson — Toni had her last chemo treatment this week and rang the bell on Thursday, so that was really exciting. Just for the kids to be able to honor their moms that way … part of this evening is about seeing the bigger picture and being able to live out your best life with your own courage and kindness. It was a great evening for the community, a packed house … it was just a good night for our community to start a new transition and honor some of our mothers.
“A Friday night game to celebrate and honor people for their courage, you just try to enjoy those opportunities as much as you can.”
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Wynford’s shooting woes costly in loss to Carey
Reporting by Zachary Holden, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum / Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
