Girls basketball: Wadsworth hammers Hudson to take sole possession of first place

WADSWORTH — On paper, the Wadsworth girls basketball team's Suburban League National Conference matchup with Hudson looked evenly matched Friday. It was not. The Grizzlies jumped on the Explorers early and turned in a convincing performance, routing Hudson 52-28 to claim sole possession of first place in the conference. The Grizzlies (6-0, 4-0) split two regular-season matchups with Hudson (5-1, 3-1) last season, but losing the rubber match 45-43 in the Division II regional semifinals was the one that stuck with them and helped drive them this season. "I think we came out with a lot of energy and intensity," said Wadsworth wing Natalie Maddox, who had 14 points, eight rebounds and two steals. "Obviously, they ended our season last year, so it gave us a lot of motivation to beat them. We all hustled and we really jelled. We just played as a team really well." Wadsworth came out buzzing and forced 10 first-quarter turnovers on its way to a 14-5 lead. "We just work hard in practice and push each other to be better every day," said Grizzlies small forward Lauren Decker, who had 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. "We never step off the gas, and we just keep pushing. I feel like that is what we did tonight." The Grizzlies never trailed, but really started to pull away after Hudson closed to 8-5 with 1:45 to play in the opening frame. Wadsworth responded immediately when Decker buried a pair of free throws and Natalie Moser (8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) hit back-to-back buckets to close the quarter. "I think we literally did give 100%," Moser said. "We just took it at them the whole time. We just played our game and that is what happens." Wadsworth held the Explorers without a point for nearly eight minutes over the first and second quarters and increased its lead to 24-5 on consecutive hoops from Decker with 2:50 to play in the first half. "We wanted to catch them off guard and tell them that you are in our gym and you're in our house," Decker said. "We are not going to let you get this easy at all." Continuing to harass the Hudson offense, the Grizzlies expanded the margin to 38-12 with 5:36 to play in the third quarter on a 7-0 run, with Maddox scoring four points. About the only place the Grizzlies didn't thoroughly dominate their opponent was from behind the 3-point line. Wadsworth came into the game shooting well from beyond the arc, but made just 4-of-18 (.222). It more than made up for that with an otherworldly effort inside. The Grizzlies made 17-of-24 inside the arc (.708) and outrebounded the Explorers 30-14. Hudson didn't hit double-digit rebounds until after both coaches cleared the benches with Wadsworth more than doubling up the Explorers on the scoreboard, 52-20. Conversely, the Wadsworth defense limited Hudson to 10-of-38 shooting (.263) and 4-of-17 from long range (.235). The Hudson starting five scored just five points and was a combined 2-of-14 (.143) from the floor. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Wadsworth 52, Hudson 28 HUDSON&emsp;5 5 10 8 — 28 WADSWORTH&emsp;14 15 15 8 — 52 Hudson — Abby Henderson 1-0-2, Angelique Pinson 0-0-0, Abby Meacham 0-0-0, Elorah Beh 1-0-3, Anna Anzevino 0-0-0, Ashli Pearson 3-0-8, Charlotte Salem 2-0-5, Kayla Weinberg 3-3-9, Addie Frank 0-0-0, Bella Lane 0-1-1, Vanessa Casey 0-0-0, Mady Meacham 0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-4-28. Wadsworth — Natalie Maddox 6-0-14, Lauren Decker 5-4-14, Marah Minor 3-0-7, Julia Maddox 0-1-1, Natalie Moser 4-0-8, Leah Blake 2-0-4, Tenley Mendel 0-0-0, Analise Lucy 1-1-4, LyndiGray Tetzel 0-0-0, Daniella Rippinger 0-0-0, Mila Polczak 0-0-0, Natalie Gill 0-0-0, Lucy Roesnick 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-6-52. 3-point goals — Pearson 2, Beh, Salem, N. Maddox 2, Lucy, Minor. Rebounds — Hudson 14 (Pearson. Pinson, Weinberg 3), Wadsworth 30 (N. Maddox 8). Assists — Hudson 4 (Beh 2), Wadsworth 9 (Decker 4). Records — Hudson (5-1, 3-1), Wadsworth (6-0, 4-0).