DRIBBLING — Harrison Central’s Mikayla Pelegreen dribbles the ball Tuesday night as Union Local’s Delaney Butler applies pressure during their Buckeye 8 game inside ‘The Hangar’ at Union Local. – Kim North
MORRISTOWN — Despite a 14-point victory, Union Local head coach Lou “Scooter” Tolzda found more negatives than positives in Tuesday night’s Buckeye 8 victory over visiting Harrison Central.
The Jets (2-0) broke a 7-all deadlock with an 8-0 run to take a 15-7 advantage after one quarter and were never threatened in posting a 48-34 decision over the visiting Huskies (1-1) inside ‘The Hangar’ on the Union Local campus.
“We’re still a work in progress and we struggle offensively to score and sometimes pass the ball and dribble. It shows,” Tolzda said. “I told people it was going to be a different game for us because we lost Lauren (MIller) to graduation. We have trouble scoring easy points and creating shots. We are challenged a little bit offensively right now.
“Some of these girls are finding out what it’s like playing varsity basketball.”
Alli Kellaway’s three-pointer from the top of the key and Teegan Day’s conventional three-point play jump-started a 13-1 run that bumped the margin to 20-8 before Harrison Central would make its next basket.
“Defensively, we’re pretty solid. We’re sitting here 0-2 and wondering what we need to do.”
Trailing 21-10, the Huskies went on a 6-0 spurt as a Lauren Doane basket made it 21-16 with 3-minutes, 33-seconds left before the half.
However, the visitors would not score again until Doane buried a three-pointer at the halfway point of the third quarter. During that span of 7:33, Union Local had doubled up Harrison Central, 32-16.
“They are a well-coached team. Scooter has been around a long, long time,” Harrison Central head coach Chance Smith said. “There’s no offense he hasn’t seen. Their perimeter defense was really tough. They body you up, it’s physical, but it’s good defense.”
The Huskies didn’t roll over and play dead. They kept battling and outscored the hosts, 10-6 in a sloppy fourth quarter.
“I told the girls when we have a good four minutes, we have a good four minutes,” Smith added, “but when we have a bad four minutes, we have a bad four minutes and we struggle. I’m proud of the girls. We battled.”
Vinskovich worked the paint for a game-high 20 points and a team-best seven rebounds. Day added 11 points off the bench and Myah Martin, despite being plagued with foul problems, added 10 points. Maddie Sedgmer paced Harrison Central with 13 points. Doane added nine markers and Kennedy Dunlap pulled down a game-leading eight rebounds.
Both had an abundance of turnovers as the Huskies charted two dozen, which was six more than the Jets.
Harrison Central shot 41 percent from the floor (12-29) but the turnovers and a 7-for-17 effort from the foul line didn’t help. Meanwhile, Union Local shot 39 percent (16-41) and made 12 of 18 free throws.
Both teams return to the floor Monday night as Union Local hosts Bellaire and Harrison Central travels to Wintersville to face Indian Creek.
“That game with Bellaire will be a test for us,” Tolzda added. “If we play sloppy against them, we’re in trouble.”
Union Local 48, Harrison Central 34
HARRISON CENTRAL (34) – Sedgmer 5 3-4 13; Dunlap 2 0-0 4; Doane 3 2-3 9; Blackburn 1 0-0 3; Pelegreen 0 1-2 1; Stull 1 0-0 3; Powers 0 1-8 1; Whipkey 0 0-0 0; Smith 0 0-0 0; Totals: 12-29 7-17 34. UNION LOCAL (48) – Saunders 0 1-2 1; Vinskovich 7 5-6 20; Martin 3 3-3 10; Pietranton 0 1-2 1; Butler 1 0-0 2; Whitely 0 0-0 0; Kellaway 1 0-0 3; Greenwood 0 0-0 0; McGary 0 0-0 0; Davis 0 0-0 0; Day 4 2-5 11; McFarland 0 0-0 0; Totals: 16-41 12-18 48
Three-Point Goals: Harrison Central 3 (Doane, Blackburn, Stull). Union Local 4 (Vinskovich, Martin, Day, Kellaway)
