HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – The Winchester girls basketball team started fast on Wednesday night in a 52-25 victory over Hagerstown in a Tri-Eastern Conference affair.
With the win, the Golden Falcons are 6-0 overall for the first time since the 2012-13 season when they began that year 9-0.
Winchester was down two players from its roster due to injury.
“We were playing with six tonight so I was a little nervous what would happen there,” Winchester coach Holly Gutierrez said. “That’s all we can do. To be able to press and keep all six in the game because we’re mentally tough, is a great sign too to know that we can get through.”
The Golden Falcons began the contest with 16-0 with 3:59 to go in the opening period.
“We played team ball and that’s what making us great right now,” Gutierrez said.
Freshman Maddie Lawrence led Winchester with 20 points.
“She makes everybody better,” Hagerstown coach Chris Oliger said.
Gutierrez agreed.
“Even if she doesn’t score, she’s doing things to make us great,” the Winchester mentor said.
Kira Robinson and Liz Pegg scored 14 points each for the Golden Falcons. Shelby Miller led the way with six rebounds.
The Golden Falcons led 22-7 after one quarter and then 35-9 by the intermission.
“It’s hard to recover,” Oliger said of the early deficit. “They’re a good basketball team.”
“We actually came out and played we made adjustments in the second half on the big girl (Robinson) and I thought we did a good job on those,” Oliger added. “I was proud of the second half.
Caysey Farmer led the Tigers with nine points.
“She played a great ball game,” Oliger said. “I’m looking forward to seeing that kind of effort all the time.”
Hannah Rogers tossed in seven points and Brytni Dale added five points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Hagerstown won the JV contest 24-7 as Grace Richards led the Tigers with 10 points. Cami Miller led Winchester with seven points.
The Golden Falcons (6-0, 2-0) return to action on Saturday at Wapahani, while the Tigers (1-5, 0-2) travel to Shenandoah on Tuesday.
Box Score
WINCHESTER (6-0, 2-0) – Autumn Dixon 2 0-0 4, Maddie Lawrence 7 6-9 20, Sierrah Love 0 0-0 0, Liz Pegg 2 9-11 14, Kira Robinson 6 2-4 14, Shelby Miller 0 0-0 0, Cami Miller 0 0-0 0, Becca Chamberlin 0 0-0 0, Kate Hendrickson 0 0-0 0, Sarah Graft 0 0-0 0. Team – 17 17-26 52.
HAGERSTOWN (1-5, 0-2) – Camryn Bradway 0 0-0 0, Victoria Pierson 0 0-0 0, Madison Brown 2 0-0 4, Brytni Dale 1 2-2 5, Kassidy Oliger 0 0-0 0, Hannah Rogers 1 4-6 7, Caysey Farmer 4 1-2 9, Beth Jenkins 0 0-0 0. Team – 8 7-10 25.
Winchester 22 35 43 52
Hagerstown 7 9 17 25
3-pointers – Winchester 1 (Pegg), Hagerstown 2 (Dale, Rogers). Rebounds – Winchester 29 (S. Miller 6), Hagerstown 30 (Dale 7). Turnovers – Winchester 13, Hagerstown 19. Fouls – Winchester 12, Hagerstown 20. Fouled out – Oliger. JV game – Hagerstown 24, Winchester 17.