Wellington girls celebrate Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV title.

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The girls basketball sign in the Wellington High School gymnasium will no longer stand alone. Wellington has just won the 2015-16 Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV title.

Wellington defeated Circle 51-32 to improve to 9-0 in league with one more regular season game to play – a trip Thursday to Clearwater. The Crusaders are 19-0 overall and have the opportunity to wrap up their first undefeated regular season in history – boys or girls – before heading into the sub-state basketball tournament next week to be played in Wellington.

The Crusaders batted down the Thunderbirds, who were 7-1 in league coming in, with a potent switch-point defense, allowing Circle just 10 points in the second half and four field goals – two of those in the waning moments with the game wrapped up.

“The girls had a meeting before the game, and decided defense was going to decide this game,” said Eric Adams, Wellington head girls basketball coach. “They had to win the 50-50 battle, and outbound the opponent.”

Wellington had 11 blocked shots for the game as Circle had no answers inside or outside in shooting the ball.

Adams said Wellington’s switch-point zone allowed the team to pressure the perimeter while staying in a zone formation. Circle, which shot five 3-pointers in the first game between these two opponents, had just two in the first half – both coming during a wild second quarter.

Wellington would end up with 13 deflections and seven steals. Wellington also had 37 rebounds including 25 defensively and 12 offensively.

On the other end, the Crusaders shot 45 percent from the field which was much lower in the second half. The Crusaders have been wicked beyond the three-point line as of late. Not Tuesday. They had only two 3-pointers for the game and was 2-of-11 beyond the arch.

Wellington got rolling early, taking an early 9-2 lead and held an 11-5 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Circle had its best quarter in the second, scoring 17 of its 32 points. But Wellington was playing tit-for-tat outscoring Circle 20-17 and taking a 31-22 advantage into halftime. The second quarter alone accounted for more than 50 percent of the points scored the rest of the game.

Wellington and Circle traded misses for much of the third quarter, but Wellington would go on a 7-2 spurt at the three-minute mark to open up a 15-point lead. Circle could never get any closer.

The Crusaders were led by Grace Mitchell with 15 points, all of those points in the first half. Lauryn Snipes had 12.

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Technical foul: Mitchell was called for a technical foul in the first half after hitting a 3-pointer. Adams explained that it was not for being belligerent but instead as she was falling she grabbed the jersey of the Circle defender as she was going down.

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