Final.

The first-ever meeting between Walton-Verona and North Oldham was quite a "doozy".

 

North flew out of the gate fast, opened an 8-2 lead to start the game, but then started turning over the ball and top player Nicole Bryant picked up two quick fouls and had to sit. Eleven first quarter turnovers and Bryant on the bench stalled North's early momentum.

 

North's #2 scorer, Olivia Raffli, picked up her second foul early in the half, too, and had to sit a bit.

 

Both teams played aggressive, in-your-face defense, and every pass, shot, and dribble was contested. If you consider pass deflections to be a critical stat, you'd have loved the contest. We (Pegasus Sports) counted at least 47 combined turnovers, 26 by North and 21 by W-V for the game, and I'm sure we missed some. The two teams came into the game #1 and #2 in the region in fewest points allowed, and they didn't disappoint in that regard.

 

Walton-Verona up 2 at the half, 17-15. North had only 19 shot attempts at the half; Walton-Verona just 14!! Kelli Dixon had 12 of W-V's 17 points on 5 of 7 shooting and 2 for 2 at the line...

 

The Lady Cats scored the first 8 points of the second half though, capitalizing on Dixon inside, to break out to their biggest advantage of the game, 25-15, only to see North repeatedly pull within striking distance.

 

WV led 33-27 after three.

 

With a little over two minutes to play, Walton-Verona was nursing a 35-31 lead, and from there, the Lady Cats were able to ice it at the line.

 

The line was truly the difference in the game, as W-V made almost three times as many FTs (11) as North attempted (4). The Lady Cats outscored the Lady Mustangs by 8 at the line...

 

Kelli Dixon was her usual self, and she carried her team tonight, with 28 points, including 6 of 8 at the line and 11 of 17 from the floor. The rest of the Lady Cats went 4 for 19 from the floor.

 

North was led by sophomore forward Nicole Bryant, with 9 points. Bryant had six points on 2 of 2 shooting from three-point-land in limited action in the first half, but W-V did a good job of keeping it out of her hands in scoring position in the second half, limiting her to 1 of 4 shooting in the second half. She finished 3 of 7 from the floor, with two threes, and 1 of 1 at the line.

 

North did a great job on Sandlin, keeping her off the boards and limiting her to just 4 points.

 

North missed too many close-in shots that could have swung the game in their favor...

 

Walton-Verona won the rebounding battle by 6 or 7...

 

North Oldham (8-3) 8 7 12 6 - 33

Walton-Verona (10-2) 7 10 16 8 - 41

 

Scoring: North - Bryant 9, Raffli 8, Gibson 6, Mattern 4, Welle 3, Lowe 3

Walton-Verona - Dixon 28, Sandlin 4, Warren 3, Slavey 2, Clinkenbeard 2,

Ginn 2

 

Shooting: Overall FG%: North 14/36 38.9%; W-V 15/35 42.8%

Three Pt FG%: North 2/7 28.6% W-V 0/5 0%

Free Throws: North 3/4 75% W-V 11/18 61%

 

Nice game by both teams; North should have earned some respect, and Walton-Verona got a quality road victory.

Nice summary. Congrats to the Lady Cats.

Congrats to both teams. I was wrong thought walton would win big. A credit to how far north has come.

Is the new gym ready?

Is the new gym ready?

Yes. My Walton contacts tell me it is very nice.

Congrats to Walton Verona on the win. Sounds like NO came out tough though.

Beautiful gym, ugly game. Probably the poorest performance I've seen this year from the Bearcats. I'm sure North had something to do with that. Sandlin played a lot fewer minutes than normal because of foul trouble. But, even if the ball is not going in Walton continues to play good defense. Kelli Dixon was a beast on the interior, North had no answer for her. I thought North played hard and looked a lot hungrier than Walton did tonight. Both teams must eliminate some of the unforced turnovers. Good luck to the Lady Mustangs the rest of the season.

Beautiful gym, ugly game. Probably the poorest performance I've seen this year from the Bearcats. I'm sure North had something to do with that. Sandlin played a lot fewer minutes than normal because of foul trouble. But, even if the ball is not going in Walton continues to play good defense. Kelli Dixon was a beast on the interior, North had no answer for her. I thought North played hard and looked a lot hungrier than Walton did tonight. Both teams must eliminate some of the unforced turnovers. Good luck to the Lady Mustangs the rest of the season.

 

It certainly was ugly, when you look at the turnover stat. But when we started comparing notes during the broadcast, we realized that the bulk of the turnovers had some input from the defenses. Like I said earlier, every dribble, pass, and shot was contested.

 

Dixon was practically unstoppable; would have had 30+ if she hadn't missed 3 or 4 shots from close-in...