WHEELERSBURG — Wheelersburg got back on track with a win Saturday afternoon. The Lady Pirates defeated West 55-22 in Wheelersburg.

Every player on the Lady Pirates’ roster got some playing time.

“It’s always good to get a chance to, number one get a win, but number two to get some of the other players in there, “Wheelersburg coach Dusty Spradlin said.

The win takes the Lady Pirates to 5-6 on the season and 3-4 in the SOC II.

The loss drops West to 0-10 overall and 0-7 in the conference. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for West, its next two games are at South Webster and then a face off with Oak Hill.

Wheelersburg was led by Lainee Clay with a game-high tying 13 points and five rebounds. Sarah Schmidt added 12 points to the Lady Pirates’ cause.

West was led by Christin Graf who had 13 points, four rebounds and four steals. Taylor Newman grabbed nine rebounds for the Senators.

“Taylor is a sophomore and she did an outstanding on the boards for us,” said West coach Greg Maynard. “I was very pleased with her play. That is the kind of stuff we need. We need the younger ones to step up. When we get help from the younger ones we will be a better basketball team.”

Wheelersburg took off on an 8-0 run over the first 2:48 of the second half to open up a 18-point lead. That run prompted Coach Maynard to call a timeout.

The timeout didn’t slow the Lady Pirates’ offensive onslaught. Sarah Schmidt had six points, two rebounds and two assists in the third quarter. Lainee Clay also had six points and five rebounds in the period. Erica Schmidt added four points to the Wheelersburg total in the stanza.

“We did a better job especially that third quarter,” Spradlin said. “We really haven’t played like that in very many games. I thought we needed to get up the floor, try do some things, pressure some people and get our girls into the game early. We played hard, but we didn’t play very smart in the first half.”

Wheelersburg outscored the Senators 20-5 in the third period, with the defense holding West to only two field goals.

“In the third (quarter) we did a better job,” Spradlin said. “Not only making sure we had our basket guarded, but offensively we did a much better job moving the ball and getting the ball to the open shooter. I’m really pleased with the way we played that quarter.”

In the final stanza, Wheelersburg continued to apply the defensive pressure. The Lady Pirates caused nine turnovers in the last eight minutes of the game leading to transition opportunities for Wheelersburg. For the second straight quarter West only managed to connect on two field goals. Six different Lady Pirates entered the scoring column in the fourth quarter.

“We played well in the first half,” Maynard said, “We came out in the second half and we were afraid we going to be flat. We’ve done that in the third quarter. We have to learn to play four quarters. That is what is hurting us.”

BRET BEVENS can be reached at (740)-353-3101 ext. 242

West 6 6 5 5— 22

Wheelersburg 11 11 20 13— 55

West — Mosley 2 0 4, Graf 6 1 13, Newman 1 0 2, Carver 1 0 3; Totals 10 1 22.

Wheelersburg — S. Schmidt 3 5 12, M. Knapp 2 0 5, Bailey 2 0 4, Prater 1 0 2, K. Knapp, 3 1 7, Turner 0 1 1, Barrick 1 1 3, E. Schmidt 2 1 6, Clay 6 1 13; Totals 19 10 55.

3-pointers — West 1 (Carver); Wheelersburg 4 (S. Schmidt 2, M. Knapp, E. Schmidt)

Record - West 0-10 (0-7); Wheelersburg 5-6 (3-4)