Sells sinks Knights in Falcons' win

By MARK MACY

News-Gazette Sports Writer

FOUNTAIN CITY - Emily Sells hit four three-pointers on a night when the rest of the Lady Falcons struggled to put the ball through the hoop, leading Winchester to a 46-33 Tri Eastern Conference victory at Northeastern Monday night.

"When everyone else was struggling to score tonight, Emily Sells was like money in the bank," said WCHS Coach Dale Dodd after watching his sophomore guard nail four big treys in five tries.

"I thought that Emily came off the bench and played well tonight," Dodd added. "For that matter I thought Kristen Rheinhart came in and gave us some very positive minutes off the bench too. Those two helped us accomplish this victory as much as anyone tonight."

Winchester had to overcome the red-hot hand of Knight senior guard Tara Sipples early and had to stave off a last-ditch last quarter rally to subdue Northeastern.

Sipples got the scoring underway on the first possession of the game, draining a three from the right baseline. Sipples scored eight of the Knights nine first quarter points, more than offsetting Sarah Hamm's three baskets in the paint for Winchester.

After Ashley Meinerding scored on a put back to give the Lady Falcons an 8-4 advantage, Sipples scored the last five points of the period to give Northeastern a one-point lead entering the second frame.

Sells hit her first trey at 7:09 giving Winchester the lead. Sipples answered a minute later giving Northeastern its last lead of the ballgame

The Lady Falcons answered with a 10-point run beginning with a Hamm rebound basket. Steph Geeting followed with a deuce, Sells drilled her second three, and Kaylie Fraze netted a pair of free throws, giving Winchester a 21-12 lead and causing Knight Coach Brent Ross to call time out at 4:09.

Caitlin Burroughs ended the four-and-one-half minute Northeastern scoring drought with a basket at the 1:30 mark. A triple from Geeting from the left baseline and a nifty spin and bank shot by Rheinhart gave the Falcons a 26-14 margin with 30 ticks remaining in the half. The Knights' Marissa Hill scored to make it a 26-16 game at the break.

Sipples began the second half as she had the first, drilling a three-pointer to narrow the Knight deficit to seven.

Geeting hit a trey, then following a steal and foul, added one of two foul shots.

Brittany Shepherd and Hamm added baskets and Winchester's lead ballooned to 34-19.

Once again Sipples came to Northeastern's rescue. She hit one of two freebies and 20 seconds later converted a three-point play to make it 34-23 at the 2:01 mark.

Sells then completed the third period scoring, draining her third trey a minute later. This gave Winchester a 37-23 lead entering the last period.

Sells buried her fourth home run just :18 into the final stanza to give the Lady Falcons what looked like a comfortable 17-point lead.

But there was life left in the Lady Knights. They didn't pull off any Trojan horse scam. Instead they looked to senior guard Julia Berger, who scored six of the game's next 10 points.

Throw in a hoop by sophomore Kaitlyn Stickel and a pair of charity tosses by Sipples and the Knights had cut the Falcon margin to a not so insurmountable looking seven points with more than five minutes to play.

Shepherd drove the lane for an easy layup with 4:15 left.

Winchester then tried to control the ball with its guards to slice time off the clock. Hamm hit a pair of charity tosses and Fraze drove the lane for her only hoop of the evening to complete the evening's scoring.

Sipples was the only Northeastern player in double figures, scoring 20 points. Julia Berger was next with six points, all six coming in a two-minute span in the fourth quarter.

Hamm led Winchester with 13 points and 20 rebounds but struggled with her shooting, connecting on just five of 13 attempts. Sells finished with a career-high 12 points, while Geeting added nine tallies. Shepherd worked hard to corral eight boards.

The Lady Falcons moved to 4-1 on the season and 3-0 in the TEC with the win. Their next action will be Wednesday night at Delta.

Steve Rutledge's jayvee squad scored the first 13 points of the jayvee game en route to a 41-25 victory. They also improved to 4-1 on the campaign.

Kristen Baker scored 13 points to pace eight girls into the Lady Falcon scoring column. Heather Dixon added 12 points in her best game of the season. Heather Hersberger grabbed seven rebounds to pace Winchester in that category.

Varsity Summary

Winchester 8 26 37 46

Northeastern 9 16 23 33

Falcons-Meinerding 1 0-1 2, Fraze 1 2-2 4, Short 0 0-0 0, Peacock 0 0-0 0, Rheinhart 1 0-0 2, Shepherd 2 0-0 4, Sells 4 0-0 12, Hamm 5 3-5 13, Geeting 3 1-2 9. Totals 17 6-10 46.

Knights-S. Berger 0 0-2 0, A. Nocton 0 0-0 0, J. Berger 3 0-2 6, Burton 0 0-0 0, Hill 1 0-0 2, Jett 0 0-0 0, K. Nocton 0 1-2 1. Moody 0 0-0 0, Sipples 6 4-5 20, Burroughs 1 0-0 2, Stickel 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 5-11 33.

ReserveJ Summary

Winchester 15 25 31 41

Northeastern 6 11 16 25

Falcons-Goodhew 2, Lang 4, Maggart 0, Winger 0, Densmore 0, Dixon 12, Baker 13, Hersberger 4, Hirschy 2, Pegg 2, Gough 2.