Varsity Volleyball

Tournament Trail Ends for Royals

By: Todd Enders, “Royal Times”

The Wynford Lady Royals (17-7) ran into a very skilled Huron Tigers (19-4) team on Thursday in a district semifinal matchup at Seneca East High School. The Tigers defeated the Royals, 25-19, 25-17, 25-22. 
In set one, each team traded points before the Royals called a timeout with the score 11-7, slowing the Tigers momentum. The Royals could only manage to get within three points of Huron at 22-19 with a change in their normal defensive look. Coach Hurles said, “Our girls bought into our defensive change for the match which took the Huron hitters out of their offensive system.  When you have good hitters like Huron, our girls could not afford any unforced errors to allow the Tigers any momentum.” The Tigers eventually won the set with the help of unforced errors by the Royals, 25-19. 
In set two, Huron and Wynford volleyed there way to a 9-9 tie. Huron ran off two straight points before a Wynford timeout at 11-9. The timeout did not slow the Tigers, as they increased their lead to 17-11. Huron displayed great defensive play the entire set, as they routinely dug the Royals kill attempts, winning the set 25-17. 
The Royals would not give up easily in set three, falling down early 5-0. Wynford fought back, down 8-4, before calling a timeout at 11-5 when Huron began to pull away with a series of strong kills. During the timeout, Coach Hurles stressed to the girls, “Its a decision you have to make, you either live or go home.” At this point in the set, the seniors on the floor bought in and the underclassmen followed. The Royals gave the Tigers all they could handle in set three. After the timeout, Wynford fought back and took the lead 13-12. After taking the lead, Wynford could not finish off Huron. The set was tied at 14, 15, 18, 20, and 21 before the Tigers ended the Lady Royals season, 25-22. 
The Lady Royals volleyball team finished the season with an overall record of 17-8 and a Northern 10 league record of 13-5.

Girls Varsity Basketball

Buzzer Beater Advances Royals to Regionals 

By: Todd Enders, "Royal Times"

The district championship game started out in very sluggish fashion for both the Wynford Lady Royals (19-6) and Oak Harbor Lady Wildcats (20-5). The finish was more than could be imagined as Wynford's Meghan Harrer hits a 30-foot jump shot at the buzzer, touching nothing but net, to defeat Oak Harbor 40-37. 

It appeared that Oak Harbor was going to take the final shot of the game with :9 remaining and possibly having the final possession, but a baseline drive turned into a desperation pass which ended up as a jump ball. Luckily, the possession arrow was in favor of the Royals. Coach Taylor-Sheldon called a timeout setting up a play 94 ft. from the Royal's basket.  Brenna Quinn's in bounds pass to the Wynford's foul line with 2.4 seconds remaining was deflected by a Lady Wildcat into the hands of Alyssa Harrer which was quickly passed to her sister, Meghan, where a dream finally came true. "I always mess around in practice and shoot half court shots", Harrer said. "I think that's its never gonna happen in a game, but it finally did and it went in." 

The first half of very sloppy basketball for both teams saw the Royals only manage to score two points where they got great looks at the basket but could not get shots to fall. Oak Harbor held a five point advantage at the end of quarter one, 7-2. Each coach created great game plans coming into the contest which found Wynford having difficulty with a tough 1-3-1 half court trap, and Oak Harbor having difficulty with a box and one on its top scorer, Andrea Cecil. 

Wynford put together a run starting at the 3:31 mark in the second quarter as they trailed Oak Harbor, 12-4. Wynford used there inside post presence, feeding Brenna Quinn in paint, scoring seven points to bring the sloppy first half of basketball to a close with Oak Harbor leading 13-11. There were a total of 22 turnovers in the first half alone.

The Royals obviously made some changes during halftime. Coach Taylor Sheldon said, "Our biggest change in the second half was forcing Cecil and Oak Harbor to take shots we wanted them to take and not allowing Cecil to penetrate and score. She obviously got her points but she earned them from the line."  Also, "Beth DeLong and Sarah Stenson did exactly what was asked of them coming into the game, guarding Cecil." The Royals controlled the tempo of the third quarter, and it started with a big three by Harrer giving Wynford their first lead of game 14-13. Wynford continued to look inside to Quinn and outside to Harrer for scoring opportunities. This created good looks for the Royals where Harrer hit shots from the outside and Quinn controlled the offensive glass.  Wynford outscored the Wildcats 14-9 in the third quarter with Harrer and Quinn scoring all 14 points and the Royals leading 25-22. 

The fourth quarter found each team sharing the lead. As fouls continued to add up, each team now in the bonus and heading to the foul line, it looked as if the game could be won there. Wynford was great from the line in their district semifinal game, but were only 4 of 11 down the stretch while Oak Harbor used the line to their advantage connecting on 8 of 10 keeping them close during the fourth quarter. The Royals held an early six point advantage in the fourth at 32-26, but the Wildcats would just not give in. The lead was then later cut to three on a 3-pointer by Cecil, 32-31, when she would later foul out with 1:55 remaining in regulation. After both teams traded points at the foul line, Oak Harbor took a 37-35 lead with :22 remaining. The Royals Ellie Richmond misses a layup and Quinn followed with the put back tying the game at 37-37 with :9 left and the rest was left up to Harrer's final buzzer beater.

The Royals were led in scoring by Quinn's 22 points and Harrer's 12. The Lady Wildcats were led in scoring by Cecil's 17. The win advances the Royals to regional semi-final action at Lexington High School on Wednesday March 5th, 7:00 p.m., where they take on Columbus Africentric.

Announcement: Wynford Athletic Department

Girl's regional semi-final basketball tickets for Wednesday March 5th, 7:00 p.m. contest go on sale starting Monday March 3 during school hours. Tickets will be sold until Wednesday March 5th at 12:00 p.m. All presale tickets for the game will be $6.00, and all tickets at the door will be $8.00. Thank you for your support and Go Royals!

Girls Varsity Basketball

Wynford Girls Advance to District Finals

By: Todd Enders, "Royal Times"

The Wynford Lady Royals and the Genoa Lady Comets played their hearts out in a very aggressive and exciting game on the hardwood. Wynford improves to 18-6 and Genoa falls to 18-7 on the year as the Royals advance to the district finals, 59-53 . It was very evident that tournament time has arrived with the aggressiveness of both teams and the officials allowing the girls to play.
The Comets and the Royals started off with hot hands. The Comets hit two quick three pointers, but Ellie Richmond had the hot hand for the Royals hitting two three-pointers; knotting it up at 6-6. Genoa used an aggressive half court trap that had an affect on Wynford early; forcing turnovers for the Royals. As Wynford settled down on the offensive end of the court, they used their size advantage in the paint with Brenna Quinn. The Comets held an early 14-12 lead on the Royals at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started out just as the first with each team answering each others three-pointers. Beth Delong and Meghan Harrer used back to back threes to give the Royals a 24-21 lead. The Royals, Brenna Quinn, contributed 12 points in the first half as she controlled the paint. Coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon was very pleased with the teams effort on the offensive glass, "as a team we used our size to our advantage in the first half pulling down 12 offensive rebounds." The aggressiveness of the first half found the possession arrow flipping back and forth resulting in a total of 12 possession changes due to jump balls. As the excitement of the first half came to a close and each team's student body continued to support their team, the Royals managed to hold an early four point advantage at the half, 27-23.
The start of the third quarter saw the tempo and pressure increase by the Lady Comets, but the Royals managed to maintain control of the game. Meghan Harrer hits two 3's early in the third quarter, but Genoa seemed to answer on the other end of the court. Midway through the third with the Royals controlling the pace of the game, they increased their lead to a 13 point advantage, 42-29. "Controlling the pace of the game and getting big stops on the defensive end," was a major contribution to the Royals advantage according to Coach Taylor-Sheldon. 
As the fouls continued to add up for both teams, the Royals where put in the bonus late in the third quarter. Wynford used the foul line to their advantage where they connected on 18 of 24, shooting 75% down the stretch in the second half. Ellie Richmond was a perfect eight for eight from the line during this stretch. The third ended with the Royals maintaining a slight 8 point advantage, 45-37.
The Lady Comets would just not go away. They continued to claw their way back into the game during the fourth quarter cutting into the Royals lead. Genoa continued their great outside shooting cutting the Royals lead to four, 54-50, with 2:03 left in the fourth. After a Genoa foul with 1:12 remaining, Richmond went to the line where she remained perfect, draining two more foul shots; increasing the lead to six. The intensity within the gym continued to increase as Genoa hits another big three with :51 seconds left, cutting the lead to three, 56-53. The Royals defense dug in and held the Lady Comets scoreless in the remaining seconds as they continued to foul the Royals. Meghan Harrer hit three of four foul shots down the stretch sealing the victory for the Royals, 59-53. Brenna Quinn lead all scorers with 16 on the night. The Royals used a balanced scoring attack, getting 14 points each from Richmond and Harrer and 9 points from DeLong, to advance to the district finals on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. taking on the Oak Harbor Rockets at Seneca East High School.

Announcement: Wynford Athletic Department

Tickets will be on sale for the March 1st district final game at Seneca East High School until 12:00 PM on February 28th. Adult ticket prices for the game, $6.00 and students, $4.00. All tickets at the door will be $6.00. Thank you for your support and GO ROYALS!