A very successful girls’ basketball season came to an end at the district tournament in Hopkins Wednesday evening when Wayland lost 45-39 to Hamilton.
The Lady Wildcats’ campaign, marred by losses in their last two games, finished with a record of 18-5 overall. They were O-K Gold Conference champions with a 12-2 record.
Even worse, senior guard Liberty Laker was taken out the game on a stretcher at the end of the third quarter and she left the game site in an ambulance. There was no further word about her condition.
It was nothing less than a lousy ending to an otherwise quality season. Wayland in December 2022 defeated Hamilton 48-36, but things were very different Wednesday night.
The ‘Cats started strong, buoyed by an impressive full-court pressure defense, leading them to mount an 8-2 lead late in the first quarter. But then came the same kind of scoring drought that doomed the Lady Wildcats in losses earlier this season against South Christian and against Forest Hills Eastern.
Hamilton scored the next 17 points unanswered from late in the first period until there was only 1:20 left until the half, grabbing a 19-8 advantage. Maddy Terry finally ended the drought with a layup, but Wayland was staring at a 23-12 deficit at halftime.
It appeared at first that the Wildcats awoke from their scoring slumber, as they scored seven straight points to start the third period and pulled to within four, 23-19, on their first successful three-point field goal of the night, courtesy of senior guard Maddy Terry. They actually managed to take a 32-30 lead on a three by Harmony Laker at the end of the third quarter.
But the Hawkeyes, now 16-7 on the season overall, scored the next eight points in a row and the best Wayland could do the rest of the way was pull to within two, 38-36, before going into another offensive funk.
The Wildcats put together some impressive pressure defense, but suffered occasional lapses that enabled the Hawkeyes occasionally to come up with easy layup baskets.
Harmony Laker led the ‘Cats with 18 points and Terry came up with 14, including three threes, but nobody else managed more than a couple of points.
Kaylie VanderHulst led Hamilton with 11 points and Kaitlin Gearing, a sophomore, added 10. The Hawkeyes’ supporting cast scored more than Wayland’s.
Hamilton finished the regular season tied for second place with Holland Christian in the O-K Blue Conference behind undefeated powerhouse West Catholic.
