Wheelersburg junior Mia Vastine (2)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

WHEELERSBURG — The Wheelersburg Lady Pirates simply aren’t accustomed to losing more than two basketball games in any one singular season.

Let alone in one single week before Christmas — and on back-to-back nights no less.

But, these senior-less Lady Pirates gave themselves an early Christmas gift on Saturday afternoon —that being a bounce-back victory against a bigger school.

That’s because Wheelersburg led for the final three quarters, gained some separation with a dozen unanswered points in opening the third period, and went on to cage the visiting Washington Court House Blue Lions 49-37 in a non-league tilt.

It was Wheelersburg’s third contest in four days, as the Lady Pirates played at Ashland (Ky.) on Wednesday night —and hosted Symmes Valley on Thursday night.

But Ashland’s Lady Kittens are a different animal so to speak, as they dealt the young Lady Pirates a 60-24 loss —before Wheelersburg got gassed in an overtime setback (45-41) against the visiting Vikings.

However, Wheelersburg returned to its familiar form on Saturday —as the new-look Lady Pirates played well on both ends of the floor, giving encouragement that last season’s squad of primarily reserve players are gaining ground as well as experience on the varsity level.

In case you forgot, the 2023 Lady Pirates sported seven solid seniors as part of their eight-person regular rotation —with Wheelersburg going 24-3, and capturing its first-ever regional championship in girls basketball.

Those Lady Pirates lost to only two teams all season —twice to Southern Ohio Conference Division II champion and archrival West, while overmatched against powerhouse Columbus Africentric in the Division III state semifinals.

These now 3-2 Lady Pirates ran into Ashland’s buzzsaw, and the Lady Vikings of the new mid-size SOC division are above .500.

So for Wheelersburg to win over Division II Washington Court House was perhaps part-relief, and perhaps part-pleasant surprise.

“I honestly wasn’t really sure what we were going to see from our kids, because there’s still a lot of newness. This was very encouraging today, and that’s what we told the girls. The Ashland game was a tough matchup, and Symmes Valley has a really nice team that we fell behind to and ultimately came up short against, even though we had a chance to win it in regulation. Today, we came out and played hard and played well, shot the ball better than what we have been,” said longtime Wheelersburg head coach Dusty Spradlin. “Very pleased. Lots of good things out there. We have to remind ourselves that all of our kids, this is new to them. Even though they did play a lot of JV (junior varsity), it’s just different at the varsity level.”

The Lady Pirates shot 42-percent on 19-of-45, including 13-of-29 from inside the arc —as they dominated the Lady Blue Lions in rebounding 33-20, including a 10-board margin (13-3) on the offensive glass.

The outside-inside 1-2 punch of junior point guard Mia Vastine to sophomore center Peyton May was indeed on point — as May poured in a tied-for career-high 22 points, on nine total field goals and 3-of-4 free throws.

Wheelersburg sophomore Peyton May (33)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

May, in fact, made a three off the wing with three seconds remaining in the opening quarter —giving Wheelersburg a 12-9 lead, and one in which it never relinquished.

But most of May’s shots were of the high-percentage variety, either off a number of her eight rebounds —or often times off Vastine assists, as the tandem played the pick-and-roll high-low game quite well.

Vastine, by far the most experienced returning Lady Pirate and a key cog in last season’s machine, achieved a double-double in assists (12) and rebounds (10) —as she also made two steals while scoring four points.

“I thought Mia really controlled things, and obviously Peyton finishing around the rim was a product of Mia being able to get by her defender. Those two have been a pretty good combination for us,” said Spradlin.

So too were two shooters Jaylinn Prather and Mackenzie Mullens, as the sophomore Prather posted a dozen points on three twos and two threes —while the freshmen Mullens made three trifectas for nine points.

Wheelersburg sophomore Jaylinn Prather (23)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

“We hit a couple jumpers, Mackenzie made some threes, and Jaylinn got going and gained some confidence as the game went on,” said Spradlin.

Wheelersburg was 6-of-16 from three-point range, as Mullens made two as part of the third-quarter spree —with Prather scoring a basket along with two field goals from May.

The Lady Pirates doubled up the Lady Blue Lions 15-7 in the third, pulling away from a 22-21 halftime advantage —that was 34-21 with two minutes and 55 seconds gone by in the canto.

The closest the Lady Blue Lions got in the final nine minutes was a 35-28 deficit, but a May basket along with a Prather deuce and trey made it seven more unanswered by Wheelersburg.

The Orange and Black’s largest lead was 45-30 with 4:12 to go, as its advantage was double figures for the final 5:42.

“I thought we did a lot of good things in the first half, but we still have stretches where we have lapses. We came out in the second half with good energy, played with more confidence in that third quarter,” said Spradlin. “Just really proud of them bouncing back. Lots of kids that are not used to being in these spots.”

Wheelersburg junior Emma Smith (20)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

Such as sophomore Mylee Gleim, who scored a first-quarter basket, and junior Emma Smith, who didn’t score but secured eight rebounds.

Wheelersburg sophomore Mylee Gleim (5)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

The loss left the Lady Blue Lions at an even 4-4, as Kallie Wade-Solamee led the way with 11 points —on four field goals and 2-of-2 fourth-quarter free throws, for Washington’s only foul-line attempts.

She scored seven first-period points, but picked up her third foul with around five minutes remaining before halftime.

Peyton Hughes had 10 points on five field goals and Maggi Wall added eight points including a pair of threes to help keep it close, as Wheelersburg’s largest lead of the opening half stood at 22-17.

Hughes had a pair of baskets to make it 22-21, then snapped WCH’s three-and-a-half minute third-quarter scoring drought.

Elianna Racine recorded a second-stanza deuce and a third-quarter trey for five points, as Lilly Shaw’s three-pointer made it 35-26 with 11 minutes and 20 seconds remaining.

Racine scored at the one-minute mark, making it 35-28, but Vastine’s only field goal answered only 37 seconds later.

From there, Washington got no closer than 38-30 in the final 6:22.

On Thursday, the Lady Pirates made it two straight wins —with a 52-10 rollover over winless Western.

Wheelersburg’s opening two wins were also over unfortunately winless clubs —Oak Hill and Eastern.

Still, to rebound after an extremely rare two-game skid was Wheelersburg’s perfect Christmas gift to itself.

“They’ve got their feet wet a little bit now, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that these are kids who haven’t been through some of these things before,” explained Spradlin. “We’ve had to adjust a little bit in some of the things that we like to do. We’re all learning a lot about who we are, and we just have to keep trying to figure things out. Just have to keep working with them and being patient with them. It’s going to be interesting where we can take them and where this group might finish. I think every day out, every win we can get is just going to help these kids relax and trust themselves and each other a little bit more.”

The Lady Pirates return to action on Thursday, Jan. 4 —with their SOC III opener against visiting South Webster.

* * *

Washington CH 9 12 7 9— 37

Wheelersburg 12 10 15 12 – 49

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE 37 (4-4)

Kaithlyn Maguiling 0 0-0 0, Maggi Wall 3 0-0 8, Kallie Wade-Solamee 4 2-2 11, Elianna Racine 2 0-0 5, Trinity George 0 0-0 0, Peyton Hughes 5 0-0 10, Kalle Ellers 0 0-0 0, Lilly Shaw 1 0-0 3; TOTALS 15 2-2 37; Three-point goals: 5 (Maggi Wall 2, Kallie Wade-Solamee, Elianna Racine and Lilly Shaw 1 apiece)

WHEELERSBURG 49 (3-2)

Mia Vastine 1 2-4 4, Mylee Gleim 1 0-0 2, Emma Smith 0 0-0 0, Makenzie Mullens 3 0-2 9, Jaylinn Prather 5 0-0 12, Baylee Kotcamp 0 0-0 0, Ava Estep 0 0-0 0, Peyton May 9 3-4 22; TOTALS 19 5-10 49; Three-point goals: 6 (Makenzie Mullens 3, Jaylinn Prather 2, Peyton May 1)

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved