WINCHESTER, Ind. – The Winchester girls basketball team defeated Tri High 62-35 on Friday.
The Titans led 11-6 after Payton Moore scored her sixth point of the game with 3:54 to go in the opening period of the Tri-Eastern Conference contest.
“We switched defenses,” Winchester coach Holly Gutierrez said of trying to stop Moore. “I put Maddie Lawrence on her and packed it in with my other two bigs.”
It worked.
“They didn’t have much to go to,” Gutierrez said. “My bigs did a great job. That was definitely the turning point. They kept trying to force it to her and we kept picking off steals.”
The Golden Falcons tied the game at 11-11 on a 3-pointer by Lawrence at the 3:02 mark.
Moore stopped the Winchester run with a pair of free throws with 50 second remaining to make it 18-13. Winchester would lead 22-13 at the first stop.
By the intermission, the Golden Falcons led 40-17.
“We played real well the first six minutes,” Tri co-coach Jeff Milller said. “This is the first adversity this team has faced. Hopefully, they grow from it. Their heads went down. Second half they battled and they didn’t quit.”
Winchester’s advantage grew to 51-24 after three periods.
“We are getting better,” Gutierrez said. “I don’t know how good we are yet. It’s hard to gauge this early in the season where everybody else falls.”
Miller was impressed with the Golden Falcons.
“They’re a nice team,” he said. “They’re going to give a lot of teams fits. They’re a tough match-up.”
The Golden Falcons had three players in double digits with Kira Robinson leading the way with 15, while Lawrence tossed in a dozen. Hannah Graft finished with 10. Lawrence grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
For the Titans, Addy Edwards led the way with 13 points and Moore ended with 12. Karlee Winkhart contributed 10.
Winchester won the JV contest 25-18 with Cami Miller leading the way with 12 points. Allison Kingery had 11 points for the Titans.
The Golden Falcons (4-0, 1-0) return to action today at Jay County, while the Titans (2-1, 1-1) entertain Knightstown on Wednesday.
Box Score
TRI HIGH (2-1, 1-1) – Karlee Winkhart 2 5-5 10, Breanna Reece 0 0-2 0, Kensington Appleby 0 0-0 0, Payton Moore 4 4-4 12, Addy Edwards 5 0-0 13, Lauren Bouslog 0 0-0 0, Kaley Harrison 0 0-0 0, Auburn Harvey 0 0-0 0, Allison Kingery 0 0-0 0. TOTALS – 11 9-11 35.
WINCHESTER (4-0, 1-0) – Autumn Dixon 3 1-1 7, Liz Pegg 4 0-0 8, Hannah Graft 4 1-2 10, Kira Robinson 7 1-2 15, Maddie Lawrence 5 1-2 12, Kelly Graft 2 0-0 6, Shelby Miller 2 0-0 4, Sierrah Love 0 0-0 0, Sarah Graft 0 0-0 0, Cami Miller 0 0-0 0, Kate Hendrickson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS – 27 4-7 62.
Tri High 13 17 24 35
Winchester 22 40 51 62
3-pointers – Tri 4 (Edwards 3, Winkhart 1), Winchester 4 (K. Graft 2, H. Graft 1, Lawrence 1). Rebounds – Tri 27 (Winkhart 4, Reece 4, Appleby 4), Winchester 37 (Lawrence 8, Robinson 6, S. Miller 6). Turnovers – Tri 22, Winchester 18. Fouls – Tri 12, Winchester 16. Fouled out – None. JV game – Winchester 25, Tri 18.