Wayland’s girls’ basketball game against a young and struggling Sparta team Monday afternoon was over after the first quarter.
The Lady Wildcats exploited that youth and inexperience with full-court pressure that propelled them to a 26-11 advantage in the first quarter, mostly as the result of turnovers leading to easy fast-break baskets.
They then operated under cruise control and came out on the long end of a 70-36 victory in the opening round of the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament. Wayland, now 4-1 for the season overall, will play Grand Rapids Christian at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Christian defeated Forest Hills Northern 46-33 in the other tourney opener.
Had it not been for a couple of three-point field goals from freshman guard Janna Hoover and junior Jessica Thornburry, the score would have been even worse. After the latter’s three, the Spartans were down only by two, 10-8, but then Wayland, with its experienced backcourt duo of Ali Martus and Ali Cutler, took it on the run.
The Lady Wildcats scored the next 12 points in a row and by the end of the first period Cutler had nine points and Martus eight and their team was up by 15.
Wayland coach Marty Howard spent the rerst of the afternoon experimenting with different defenses and playing everybody on the roster except MacKenzy Kasper, who is out of action because of a concussion.
The contest slowed down considerably in the second and third quarters, after Howard took off the full-court press and went to a three-quarters zone trap and then tried out the time-honored man-to-man.
The Lady Wildcats pulled away even more in the fourth quarter because senior pivot Sydney Ritz came up with blocks, steals and rebounds to spark plenty of fast-break layups.
The principal beneficiary was Cutler, who finished with 21 points, including a couple of threes. Senior forward MacKaylah Donewald dropped in 13 points, mostly through some hard work in taking the ball to the iron. Senior guard Karli Warning scored 10 points and Martus had eight, not scoring at all after the first quarter.
Sparta, which is winless in six ballgames this season and starting three freshmen, a junior and a senior, was led by Thornburry and senior Carley Andres, both of whom had eight points.
PHOTOs: Lady Wildcats Hope Dollarhide (4), Karli Warning (2) and Ali Cutler show some of that tencious defense. Wayland hasn’t yielded as many as 45 points in a game yet this season.
Mackaylah Donewald (21) scored 13 points for Wayland in the tourney win over Sparta. (Photos courtesy of Kenny Ritz)
