South Webster senior Skylar Zimmerman (22) goes up for a basket between two South Gallia defenders during Thursday night’s non-league girls basketball game at South Webster High School.

Ed Litteral | Daily Times

SOUTH WEBSTER — Within one week’s time frame, the South Webster Lady Jeeps ran through a gauntlet of three 2023 girls basketball regional tournament qualifiers.

On Thursday night, the third time of those three was indeed the Lady Jeeps’ charm —as South Webster won a key early-season non-league matchup, and handed the highly-touted South Gallia Lady Rebels their first loss.

That’s because South Webster never trailed for the final seven minutes and 20 seconds, and ended the game on 7-0 and 9-2 runs, as the Lady Jeeps jolted the Lady Rebels’ perfect season —and captured a 53-46 victory in a battle of two small-school Southeast District squads.

Per SWHS sixth-year head coach Ryan Dutiel, “this win was huge and we’ve had this one (game) marked down on our calendar for quite a while.”

The now 4-2 Lady Jeeps, and for the second season in a row as a Division III postseason tournament team, welcomed to South Webster within the past week —2023 Division III Region 11 semifinalist North Adams (55-44 loss), 2023 Division IV Region 15 runner-up Notre Dame (47-31 loss) and 2023 Division IV Region 15 semifinalist South Gallia.

The Lady Jeeps did play well at junctures in those North Adams and Notre Dame losses for their only defeats, but endured stretches where miscues cost them against good competition in the Green Devils and Lady Titans.

Late in the second quarter against the Lady Rebels, playing this season without standout center Emma Clary due to an ACL injury, South Webster was down 28-21 and 30-23 —thanks largely to the Lady Rebels’ 20-point opening period.

But the Lady Jeeps outscored South Gallia 28-16 in the second half, opening the third quarter on a 9-3 run over the first five minutes and 15 seconds.

From there, South Webster trailed for only 35 seconds in the remainder of the third, and for only 30 early seconds in the final canto.

Cailee Blevins bagged a three-pointer to give the Lady Jeeps a 43-41 edge only 40 seconds into the fourth quarter, as all South Gallia gained from there were ties at 44-44 with 4:12 to play —and 46-46 with 2:21 remaining.

The 53-46 final, clinched by Bella Claxon with a pair of free throws with 14 seconds showing, was the Lady Jeeps’ largest margin of the game.

It was more than enough to knock off the Lady Rebels, which fell for the first time in five bouts.

Dutiel said South Gallia greatly differs in style from that of undefeated Notre Dame, whom South Webster faced just three nights earlier.

“They are a quality team and are very well-coached. They gave us a totally different style of play from Notre Dame, after playing them the other night. Notre Dame is much bigger, but this team is super-quick and they shoot it like crazy,” said the coach. “We looked at it as a challenge and the girls just stepped up and met the challenge tonight.”

Skylar Zimmerman met the South Webster scoring challenge of the opening half, pouring in 17 of her game-high 20 points in the first 16 minutes —including canning three three-pointers and a pair of charity tosses to keep the Lady Jeeps within second-half striking distance.

That’s when the Lady Jeeps did indeed strike, in particular Claxon, who tallied 12 of her 18 points following halftime —as she shot 8-of-13 from the field and grabbed a dozen rebounds.

South Webster senior Bella Claxon (20) goes up for a basket over two South Gallia defenders during Thursday night’s non-league girls basketball game at South Webster High School.

Ed Litteral | Daily Times

Zimmerman made her final basket —her fourth three-ball on seven long-range tries as part of 15 floor shots overall —to get the Lady Jeeps within 33-32.

Addi Claxon scored her only points at the 2:45 mark to give South Webster the lead —as the Lady Jeeps outscored South Gallia 19-10 over the final 10 minutes and two seconds.

Dutiel said the third-quarter completion of the comeback set up the late fourth-quarter surge, as Bre Potters made 2-of-4 free throws in the final quarter —and Ashlee Spence scored a go-ahead basket in the lane that made it 46-44, with Blevins saving the ball from going out of bounds.

 

South Webster’s Cailee Blevins (4) shoots a jump shot over South Gallia’s Madison Summers (5) during Thursday night’s non-league girls basketball game at South Webster High School.

Ed Litteral | Daily Times

Blevins’ basket with two minutes remaining made it 48-46 — as the Lady Rebels missed on the other end, were forced to foul to put South Webster at the foul line, and gave up a Zimmerman driving lane as she passed to Bella Claxon underneath to make it 50-46 with 58 tics to go.

“In the third quarter against Notre Dame, we came out slow. I challenged the girls to come out in the second half tonight and just be steady. Let’s play solid defense, not make any mistakes that would be backbreakers. We were able to do that. The girls executed the gameplan of what we wanted to do and what we were looking for. It’s huge to be able to end a game on that note. It’s a whole lot different in playing ahead than it is from playing catch-up and being behind. You can pretty much dictate what you want to do offensively, and those runs sure help out the defense,” said Dutiel. “Huge run we were able to make there, we got the right people open, and they were able to hit some big shots. South Gallia changed up defenses several times trying to take away what we were getting in the middle, but our girls responded by maybe hitting somebody with a cross-court pass or kicking it ahead and hitting a good shot.”

Besides Zimmerman’s 20 and Claxon’s 18 and their tales of two halves, the calming Blevins bucketed nine key points on seven shots —as Addi Claxon collected five steals and Zimmerman managed six boards.

The Lady Jeeps also overcame 20 turnovers.

“If I can get Skylar and Bella on a 2-on-2 situation, those girls have played together their entire lives in three sports. Addi Claxon’s defense was key, and those were nine huge points from Cailee (Blevins),” said Dutiel. “She is given the task of usually starting the offense and getting everything rolling. She has always been skilled and a nice shooter, she is just starting to come on with that confidence to be able to hit those open shots and not second-guess herself.”

With Clary out, Division IV all-Ohioan Morgan Lyons leads the Lady Rebels, although South Webster limited her to only 11 points on Thursday night —as she shot 2-of-4 free throws for South Gallia’s only attempts at the line.

Tori Triplett tacked on 10 points, Macie Sanders nine, Madison Summers seven, Lindsey Wells five and finally Jacie Boothe with two second-stanza field goals.

“I expect them (Lady Rebels) to win 20 games, because they are so talented and quick and they have played a lot together for a long time too,” said Dutiel. “We’re hoping that we can keep this momentum going, move forward from this one what we learned, and head into Christmas on a winning note.”

South Webster won at Paint Valley on Monday night by a count of 61-29, and travels again in non-league play at Green on Wednesday night.

But for Thursday night, with the calendar in mid-December that the Lady Jeeps had in fact circled, it was a good quality outcome which they hoped for.

“We didn’t have much practice time before the season started because of the deep tournament run by the volleyball team. These girls on the basketball court have come together very quickly and they are all incredible young ladies who know how to win, they know game situations, they know what we’re looking for, and they are very coachable,” said Dutiel.

* * *

South Gallia 20 10 9 7— 46

South Webster 18 7 15 13 – 53

SOUTH GALLIA 46 (4-1)

Morgan Lyons 4 2-4 11, Lindsey Wells 2 0-0 5, Tori Triplett 4 0-0 10, Macie Sanders 4 0-0 9, Madison Summers 3 0-0 7, Jacie Boothe 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 19 2-4 46; Three-point goals: 6 (Tori Triplett 2, Morgan Lyons, Lindsey Wells, Macie Sanders and Madison Summers 1 apiece)

SOUTH WEBSTER 53 (4-2)

Cailee Blevins 4 0-0 9, Alivia Hanes 0 0-0 0, Addi Claxon 1 0-0 2, Bre Potters 0 2-4 2, Bella Claxon 8 2-4 18, Skylar Zimmerman 7 2-2 20, Ashlee Spence 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 21 6-10 53; Three-point goals: 5 (Skylar Zimmerman 4, Cailee Blevins 1)

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved