Wheelersburg junior Mia Vastine (2)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

WHEELERSBURG — In more ways than one, with Wheelersburg’s two-week layoff from games, it had to somewhat feel like starting over for the Lady Pirates.

But these youthful Lady Pirates, for the most part last Thursday night against the experienced South Webster Lady Jeeps, picked up right where they left off.

Thanks to a fast start, and an even better finish, Wheelersburg won its first-ever Southern Ohio Conference Division III girls basketball bout —in its first-ever all-time SOC III game.

By dominating the Lady Jeeps by a combined 28-6 in the opening and closing cantos, Wheelersburg withstood a South Webster third-quarter rally —and captured a 43-26 victory in Pirate Country.

The Lady Pirates scored the opening 10 points, maintained a 23-14 advantage at halftime, fended off the Lady Jeeps’ hard third-frame charge, and rolled onward with a 17-2 output in the fourth quarter towards the 17-point final.

In fact, that 43-26 tally was Wheelersburg’s largest lead —after South Webster went on a 10-3 rally in the third to get within two points (26-24).

But for the Lady Pirates’ points in the third, an old-fashioned three-point play by sophomore Peyton May at the four-and-a-half minute mark, Wheelersburg went on the sheer defensive for the fourth —allowing only 2-of-4 Skylar Zimmerman free throws.

With the win, as three divisions are in existence now for the SOC in basketball, the Lady Pirates raised their record to 5-2 —while the Lady Jeeps dipped to 8-3.

Wheelersburg’s win was its third consecutive, as South Webster’s winning streak of five games got snapped.

The Lady Pirates also bridged exactly two weeks time off —as the Orange and Black last played on Dec. 21 against Western (52-10 win).

Their last competitive contest was also the initial triumph of the current winning streak —a 49-37 home win over Division II Washington Court House five days earlier.

Wheelersburg veteran head coach Dusty Spradlin spoke of the Lady Pirates’ long layoff, and resuming action with an important conference victory.

Wheelersburg’s Mylee Gleim (5) drives around the defense of South Webster’s Cailee Blevins (4) during Thursday night’s Southern Ohio Conference Division III girls basketball game at Wheelersburg High School.

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

“Honestly, this felt like a first game in a lot of ways. We hadn’t played in such a long time. It’s really unusual to have that much of a layoff (two weeks), but that’s just how our schedule fell. There were a lot of questions. Obviously, the first six games we had moments at 4-2, trying to find our identity. We tried to use that practice time over the break to challenge the girls and find out what we’re made of,” said Spradlin. “We played super-hard tonight and I’m very proud of them for the way they played. A lot of times this year, we’ve told them that we have to grow up quickly. It’s good to get a win, and obviously anytime you get a win in our league, I feel like our league is always pretty good.”

The Lady Pirates already appear pretty good again, despite the heavy graduation losses of seven solid seniors — from last season’s Division III Region 11 championship squad.

They’ve reloaded with the likes of the 5-8 forward May, fellow 5-8 sophomore Jaylinn Prather, 5-4 junior point guard Mia Vastine, and 5-6 fellow junior Emma Smith.

That foursome combined for all 43 Lady Pirate points in the South Webster win.

Prather posted a game-high 17 on seven total field goals and 2-of-4 free throws, including the game’s only three-point goal that made it 31-24 with 6:36 remaining.

Wheelersburg sophomore Jaylinn Prather (23)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

May muscled for 15 points on five field goals and 5-of-7 foul shots — as Vastine netted nine points, seven rebounds, six assists and six steals.

She split a pair of free throws for a 41-26 lead with 49.5 seconds left, and made four field goals as well.

While Prather and May may score more markers, Vastine does stir the Lady Pirates’ proverbial drink.

The Lady Pirates only sank one of nine three-pointers, but shot 48-percent (16-of-33) from inside the arc.

“Mia does a really good job of attacking those spaces and she gets those kids shots. She got Jaylinn (Prather) some looks at some threes and obviously Peyton (May) some buckets around the rim. She probably doesn’t get enough credit. She rebounds and handles the ball a lot. We’ve obviously had to rely on her quite a bit, because she’s one of the few kids that had experience coming back,” said Spradlin. “She’s done a good job as we keep asking more from her each game. She’s still learning, but I thought she played really well.”

The Lady Pirates played well to open AND close the game, scoring the first 10 points of the first quarter —and more critically the first eight points of the last.

May scored five of those eight in the fourth, including two baskets off Vastine assists to bookend the run.

In between, Prather popped her three-pointer —and May made one of two free throws.

Spradlin stated it was a sudden turn of the tide.

“It (fourth-quarter run) just made us relax a little bit. We just have to fight through those moments,” he said. “I remember we were stuck on 26 (points) forever. I remember it being 26-24, and we had really struggled taking some quick shots and turned it over a few times trying to force it into spots against their zone. That’s the part where we have to keep learning, when to go and when to attack. These are still young kids that don’t have a lot of varsity experience. People aren’t going to feel sorry for us, but we have kids out there still learning on the go.”

Zimmerman made one of two freebies for a 34-25 South Webster deficit, but Bella Claxon committed her fifth foul immediately after —and it was a double-digit margin for the final 4:15.

The key offensive component Claxon was in foul trouble the entire game, and didn’t score a single point.

She picked up her third with five minutes remaining before halftime.

Without Claxon in the lineup, SWHS coach Ryan Dutiel described the ordeal Zimmerman endured.

The senior standout scored a team-high 13 points on three field goals and 7-of-10 free throws, and recorded team-highs in rebounds and steals with five apiece, but the Lady Pirates hounded her all evening — taking a physical beating from shouldering such a load.

“Bella is a big part of our offense. But when she goes out of the game, and teams are putting so much emphasis and focus on Skylar and she’s got defenders draped all over her, that’s when our other guards just need to step up. We need more from those kids all the time. We knew this was going to be a physical game, and Wheelersburg was focused on running people at Skylar and making sure she met contact when she took the ball to the rim. Some of the shots that she normally makes didn’t fall,” said Dutiel.

South Webster senior Bre Potters (15) and Wheelersburg sophomore Peyton May (33)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

None of the Lady Jeeps’ first 13 shots fell, and they committed eight turnovers in the same scoreless five-minute and 23-second span to start the game.

They didn’t make any of their nine trifecta attempts, and only hit 22-percent (9-of-41) of their two-point tries.

“We came in confident that if we hit our shots, we were going to be able to compete. But we came out cold as ice. We didn’t execute our offensive gameplan,” said a dejected Dutiel. “We fought back all game and cut it to two points (26-24) at the end of the third, and we were right there where we needed to be. Then Bella (Claxon) gets called for her fifth foul, and it just took the wind right out of us. But if we hit our shots early on, it’s a different ballgame. Instead, they got us in foul trouble, we had to go deeper into our bench, and we haven’t had to do that all year long.”

Claxon picked up her fourth foul three-and-a-half minutes into the third, but Zimmerman’s seven period points got the Lady Jeeps right back in it.

South Webster senior Skylar Zimmerman (22)

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

“In that third quarter, you could tell that Skylar (Zimmerman) really made a point to ramp it up with Bella (Claxon) in foul trouble,” said Spradlin. “We tried to keep throwing different kids at her and a couple of times, we threw double teams at her.”

But no other Lady Jeep scored more than four, and the Lady Pirates probably put together their best singular quarter all season.

“We can live with mistakes offensively, but defensively, you have to give great effort and I thought we did that tonight. It’s hard to complain about holding them to 26,” said Spradlin. “They (Lady Jeeps) are experienced, they are big and they are physical.”

But Wheelersburg’s buzz-saw start, and finish, formulated for the win.

“Our girls just have to learn from this and move on from here,” said Dutiel. “It’s a bitter learning experience, but it’s something we’ll analyze what we did and we’ll go from there.”

“I thought it was a very good game, and that score (43-26) isn’t really indicative of how close this game was. We’ll take it and move forward. We just have to take this and hopefully this springboards us into the rest of our schedule,” said Spradlin. “If we play like that, we’re going to be competitive. Just try to keep improving every day, but if we play this hard, then good things are going to happen.”

* * *

South Webster 4 10 10 2— 26

Wheelersburg 11 12 3 17 – 43

SOUTH WEBSTER 26 (8-3, 0-1 SOC III)

Cailee Blevins 2 0-0 4, Alivia Hanes 1 1-2 3, Addi Claxon 1 0-0 2, Bre Potters 2 0-0 4, Bella Claxon 0 0-2 0, Skylar Zimmerman 3 7-10 13, Ashlee Spence 0 0-2 0; TOTALS 9 8-16 26; Three-point goals: none

WHEELERSBURG 43 (5-2, 1-0 SOC III)

Mia Vastine 4 1-2 9, Mylee Gleim 0 0-0 0, Laynee Walker 0 0-0 0, Emma Smith 1 0-0 2, Makenzie Mullens 0 0-0 0, Jaylinn Prather 7 2-4 17, Ava Estep 0 0-0 0, Peyton May 5 5-7 15; TOTALS 17 8-13 43; Three-point goals: 1 (Jaylinn Prather 1)

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved