Woodlawn Lady Cardinals fall from ranks of unbeatens

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Woodlawn's Whitney Lowery (21) battles with Louisville's Caitlin Johnson (left) for a rebound during Thursday night's Midland Trail Conference matchup at Sides Gymnasium. Louisville handed WHS its first loss in seven outings, 47-44. John Roark/Register-News

December 4, 2009

By JACK CLARK

jackclark@mvn.net

WOODLAWN — Going into the Wednesday evening girls basketball game, pitting Woodlawn against Louisville-North Clay, one thing was certain. The Lady Cardinals would come away a winner.

However, the North Clay Lady Cardinals defeated the Woodlawn Lady Cardinals, 47-44.

After being held scoreless for the first 3:23 of the game, Woodlawn reeled off nine straight points to hold a 9-6 lead going into the second quarter.

Louisville-North Clay out-scored Woodlawn 14-9 in the second period to take a 20-18 halftime lead, but only after Alexa Capps drilled her second 3-pointer of the game with only two seconds remaining in the second quarter.

After three quarters of play, Louisville had increased its lead to 30-25.

Early in the fourth quarter, Woodlawn went on a 6-2 run to pull itself to within one point, 32-31. A North Clay 9-1 run over the ensuing 90 seconds made the score 41-32.

Over the next 2:09, Woodlawn put togther a 12-2 run to once again claw their way back into the game, taking a 44-43 lead, before North Clay scored the final four points inside the final minute to take the win.

North Clay was 3-4 from the free-throw line. Woodlawn was 6-14.

“Well, free throws were a big difference. They only missed one and still got a stickback,” said Helbig. “We made only a few. That’s something that we’ve harped on all year.”

Helbig said that having back-to-back games on school nights may have played a part.

“Maybe we had some tired legs from playing the night before (against Sesser-Valier). That was a tough one too,” Helbig said. “But, that’s no excuse. We’ve got to come out and take care of business. And we didn’t, but to North Clay’s credit, they did.”

Helbig said that North Clay did some things that Woodlawn had some trouble adjusting to.

“They mixed things up. They had a little gimmick where they started in a zone and then switched to man-to-man,” said Helbig. “That caused some confusion early.”

The coach has a role in a win or a loss. Helbig said that he has to be held responsible as well.

“I have to take some of the blame, too,” Helbig said. “I pride myself on being prepared. I didn’t get a chance to see them or call anyone to ask about their personnel. That helped them start out the game the way that they did.”

Mallory Hapeman led Woodlawn with 15 points. Capps hit a three-pointer in each quarter, finishing with 14 points.

Alyssa Fender led all scorers with 20 points for Louisville-North Clay.

The Woodlawn Lady Cardinals are in action next at Wayne City on Monday night.

Louisville 47, Woodlawn 44

Louisville 6 14 10 17—47

Woodlawn 9 9 7 14—44

Louisville (2-2): Fender 20, Oliver 8, Buhrmann 7, Cox, 6, Yates 2, Bailey 2, Johnson 2. Totals 21 3-4 47

Woodlawn (6-1): Hapeman 15, Capps 14, Lowery 7, Sutton 6, Verhines 2. Totals 17 6-14 44

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