Girls basketball: Wadsworth hammers Carrollton at Classic in the Country

BERLIN — The Wadsworth girls basketball was called for a shot clock violation on its first possession against Carrollton on Saturday morning, a new wrinkle at The Classic in the Country Challenge. That was the only thing that stopped the Grizzlies from scoring in a 63-26 win, other than the running clock used for the final six minutes. The Grizzlies shot 43.9% from the field, including 48.1% in the second half, and went on a 24-3 run that spanned the last half of the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter to take a 30-9 lead. The key to the offensive surge came on the defensive end, where Wadsworth (14-1) had 22 steals and turned 29 turnovers by Carrollton (11-5) into 36 points. "We had good defense, and that made offense for us," said senior Lauren Decker, who led the Grizzlies with seven steals. "I think we're really a defensive-oriented team, but we care just as much on offense as we do on defense. It all just keeps circling back to each other." It was a complete team effort for Wadsworth, with nine players getting minutes during the flow of the game and all nine scoring points. The Grizzlies were led by Decker with 16 points, while Julia Maddox and Tenley Mendel each scored 10. Natalie Moser (9), Analise Lucey (8), Marah Minor (4), Julia Maddox (2) and Leah Blake (2) also got on the scoring sheet. "I thought those kids were really big," Wadsworth coach Andrew Booth said. "I don't think there was any drop-off in execution and certainly not in effort." It was the first game for Mendel without a brace on her shooting hand, as the freshman missed several games with a thumb injury and then played a couple games with a brace to protect it. Without the brace, she hit 3-of-5 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. "Today during warmups, I was kind of just tired because it almost felt like I couldn't hold the ball with it," she said. "So I took it off right before this game, and I was just hoping it would go well." The win cleansed the Grizzlies from a 37-27 loss at Twinsburg on Wednesday, their first of the season. "It was really important because that was a tough loss, obviously, and the only thing you can do from that is learn from it and grow from it," Decker said. "I think that's exactly what we did. We weren't thinking about the loss at all. We just knew we had to focus on the next game." As for that shot clock violation to start the game? This was the first time that the Grizzlies played with one. "We had two practices to prepare for Carrollton, and we spent about 20 seconds on the shot clock situation and that was just me telling them there is a shot clock," Booth joked. "We did talk about if we get to 10 seconds on the shot clock, the bench would start counting it down and on the first possession, we're counting it down. I don't think any of the kids heard me and they were still moving the ball, and we didn't look at the rim. "Kind of an inauspicious start to the Classic in the Country on our end. but I'd say we rebounded pretty well." Wadsworth 63, Carrollton 26 The Classic in the Country Challenge at Berlin Hiland WADSWORTH&emsp;14 19 18 12 — 63 CARROLLTON 6 11 2 7 — 26 Wadsworth — Lauren Decker 7-2-16, Natalie Maddox 1-0-2, Marah Minor 1-2-4, Julia Maddox 5-0-10, Natalie Moser 3-3-9, Tenley Mendel 3-4-10, Leah Blake 1-0-2, Analise Lucey 3-0-8, LyndiGray Tetzel 1-0-2, Natalie Gill 0-0-0, Mila Polczak 0-0-0, Jordyn Stoops 0-0-0, Daniella Ripplinger 0-0-0. TOTALS: 25-11-63. Carrollton — Emma Shafer 2-5-10, Kylie Ujcic 3-0-6, Kherrington Roudebush 0-0-0, Ivy Bishop 3-1-7, Kamryn Shaw 0-0-0, Lexie Bowie 1-0-3, Braelynn Roudebush 0-0-0, Erin Shafer 0-0-0. TOTALS: 9-6-26. 3-point goals — Lucey 2, Bowie, Emma Shafer. Rebounds —Wadsworth 34 (N. Maddox 6), Carrollton 28 (Ujcich 12) Assists — Wadsworth 16 (Decker 7), Carrollton 3 (Ujcich 2). Records — Wadsworth (14-1), Carrollton (11-5).