Jan 4, 2024 3 min read

By Dave Whipkey

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

HOUSTON – No matter the sport, the player or team that gives the most effort tends to come out victorious more often than not.

Thursday night’s Class 2A Section 4 girls basketball battle for first place between Washington and Chartiers-Houston was Exhibit A for said scenario as the Buccaneers used a 24-4 scoring blitz in the third quarter that led to a 64-40 win over the visiting Prexies.

Allison Wingard paced the Bucs (4-0, 7-3) with 22 points. She was joined in the double-digit scoring column by Mia Mitrik’s 14 and Amelia Brose’s 15 points, respectively.

Washington (2-1, 3-6) was led by Olivia Woods, who finished with 16 points, while Taraysia Finley chipped in with 12 points.

The Bucs busted open the game in the decisive third when they went on an 18-1 run that spanned the end of the first half and into the second thanks to Wingard and Mitrik combining for a one-two punch inside that the Prexies were unable to match.

“I challenged our girls coming out of the half,” Buccaneers coach Laura Montecalvo said. “I knew a six-point lead then against them would not be enough.”

Wingard scored 12 of her 22 points in the decisive third quarter on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the floor.

Chartiers-Houston spent much of the second half breaking the Prexies’ trapping defense that led to easy baskets which allowed the Bucs lead to increase.

While the Bucs solved the Prexies’ defense, they held the visitors to 1-for-8 shooting from the field and forced six turnovers in the process.

“I preach effort to them in practice and in games and what you saw there was a result of that effort,” Montecalvo added. “Even when shots aren’t falling, we can always play hard on defense and hit the glass and we did that tonight.”

The Bucs out rebounded the shorter Prexies 26-16 and forced 21 turnovers.

Washington coach Josh Wise said his squad needs to do a better job responding to adversity as evidenced by the second-half blowout.

“That’s been a problem for us this year is we start hanging our heads when things go wrong,” Wise noted. “We need to give a stronger effort for sure. We simply got destroyed on the glass tonight.”

The Prexies hung close in the first half thanks to four three pointers. Three of which were made by Finley while Woods added a fourth in the second half.

But a Brose coast-to-coast lay up after a Prexies miss at the end of the half gave the hosts a 27-21 lead at the break.

“We’re not going to beat anyone just shooting three pointers,” Wise added. “We need to do the little things better like taking care of the ball and rebounding going forward.”