Slow start doesn’t deter Wellington girls en route to 57-41 victory over Mulvane
Airalyn Frame led the team with 14 points as Crusaders cruise to victory. (Photos by Katie Ford).
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington girls basketball team got off to a slow start in its season opener, missing its first 12 field goal attempts and trailing Mulvane 8-2 with less than two minutes in the first quarter.
Then they got busy.
Wellington would go on to beat Mulvane 57-41. The Crusaders would go on to score 17, 17, and 15 points in the three final quarters. In the end, they had nine three-pointers and would hit nine more field goals than Mulvane.
“We got the job done,” said Eric Adams, Wellington head girls basketball coach. “It wasn’t pretty and we have a lot of work to do. But I couldn’t be happier with the effort.”
The Crusaders would outscore Mulvane 32-20 in the second half. Adams attributed much of that to switch from man-to-man to a point-zone defense in the second half.
“I actually thought about it as we were walking back out of the locker room to start the second half,” Adams said. “We hadn’t really practiced much of it but I knew Mulvane was expecting us to stay in man-to-man. I also had a couple girls in foul trouble. Zone has a way of protecting people in foul trouble.”
Airalyn Frame, who would end up being the Dukes’ leading scorer with 14 points, was sitting with three fouls at the half. Wellington had 10 fouls. The Crusaders despite their problems on offense had held Mulvane to just four field goals at the half.
Valerie Norwood made her Crusader debut as a freshman.
In the early going, the Crusaders were anything but a top 10 preseason team, as they couldn’t find the basket. Kami Reichenberger would hit two free throws with a little less than two minutes. Then freshman Valerie Norwood hit a trey for the Dukes’ first field goal. Wellington had already closed the gap going into the second quarter tied at 8.
The Crusaders started to really roll in the second quarter, getting four 3-pointers from different girls. At the half, Wellington was leading 25-21.
They would quickly expand the lead to double figures to start the third quarter and would go on to win. Brit Zeka, a freshman, had 13 points. Shiney Hughes was not in the lineup.
Wellington, now 1-0, will host El Dorado to start the Cheney Tournament on Monday, and then comes a huge test against Cheney there on Tuesday. The Cardinals are ranked No. 2 in Class 3A.
Wellington 57 Mulvane 41
Mulvane – 8 13 8 12 — 41
Wellington- 8 17 17 15 — 57
Mulvane: Young 8, Garrison 7, Nolan 7, Shaw 7, Kanaga 4, Phipps 4, A. Young 4. Total: 11 (1) 16-24 41. Wellington: B. Zeka 13, Reichenberger 9, A. Zeka 8, A. Gerten 5, A Frame 14, Norwood 7. Total: 12 (9) 5-8 57.
