PEDRO, Ohio — The Pirates weren’t interested in participating in any nail bitters Saturday.
Wheelersburg used a 38-14 first half, where they knocked down six 3-pointers, to beat the South Point Pointers 57-24 in a Division III Sectional Championship game at Rock Hill High School.
Pirates coach Dusty Spradlin was elated to get that first tournament victory out of the way as well as capturing another sectional crown — a feat the Pirates don’t take lightly.
“A lot of people kind of take sectional championships for granted,” Pirates head coach Dusty Spradlin said. “But you’ve still got about 40 percent of the teams left after the sectionals, so sectional championships are always a big deal to us. We’ve got a share of the SOC championship, we’ve got another sectional championship to add to that and now we want to go to districts to see what we can do there.”
Sydney Holden led Wheelersburg (19-4) to the victory with a double-double effort. Holden scored a game-high 13 points while also grabbing 13 rebounds.
“Most people know Sydney is our leader,” Spradlin said. “She does it so many different ways. She’s just an incredible player, the effort is always great. She just kind of does the whole thing for us.”
While the Pirates drained nine treys during the contest, their first 16 minutes was aided by the aforementioned six 3-pointers. Coming off the bench, Abbie Kallner connected on two shots from downtown in the first quarter and hit another trey in the second quarter to set the tone.
“It’s nice having players that can come in, she’s not the only one, but it’s nice having players that can come in off the bench and help you in multiple areas — offensively, defensively, it’s nice to have people to turn too,” Spradlin said. “We came out with some tournament jitters early on in the first quarter and we had some kids missing some shots, so it’s nice to be able to bring some kids in that can handle both ends of the floor for us.”
Two other players who contributed in the victory were Makayla Akers and Ellie Ruby. Akers scored 10 and grabbed six rebounds while Ruby finished with eight points on the night.
Wheelersburg will return to the hardwood Thursday as the Pirates travel to Waverly for a district semifinals game.
Box Score
South Point 12 2 4 6 — 24
Wheelersburg 18 20 17 2 — 57
Individual Statistics
South Point Deeds 1-0-2, Mundy 1-0-2, Badgett 2-0-5, Kearns 2-2-7, Abner 2-0-4, Perkey 1-0-2, Hannah 1-0-2.
Wheelersburg — Ruby 2-3-8, Kallner 3-0-9, Coleman 2-0-4, Swim 2-1-7, Holden 5-1-13, Salyers 2-0-4, Akers 4-1-10, Emmett 1-0-2.
Three-point field goals — South Point 2 (Badgett, Kearns); Wheelersburg 9 (Ruby, Kallner 3, Swim 2, Holden 2, Akers).
Records — South Point 11-12; Wheelersburg 19-4.
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