It was an inauspicious varsity basketball coaching debut for Wes Hudson, as his Lady Wildcats lost 50-32 to visiting Hastings Friday night.
The Saxons, fueled by five three-point field goals by senior guard-forward Elizabeth Heidi, pulled away during the second half while Wayland struggled to get the ball up the court without giving it away on bad passes and lots of pressure.
The Lady Wildcats played a terrific first two minutes of the ballgame, jumping out to 7-2 advantage on a field goal and two free throws by 5-11 center Sam Nieuwkoop and a three-point play by senior captain Taryn Coughlin.
But then Hastings put on a full-court press, scored 11 unanswered points to take a 13-7 lead and never looked back. Wayland scored only four points in a 10-minute stretch over the first two periods, mostly because of a failure to take care of the basketball.
The Saxons were blessed by three-pointers from four different players, Heidi, Jordyn Wigg, Brenegan Murphy and Madison Smith and they streaked to a 20-10 cushion midway in the second quarter. Wildcat junior Skyler Stora dropped in a pair of free throws and scored on a driving layup to tighten the score at 20-15, but that was as close as the home team was going to get for the rest of the evening.
Wayland trailed 23-17 at intermission.
Heidi drilled three threes in the fourth and yet another in the first minute of the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Wildcats scored only six points in the entire third period and failed to reach double figures in any quarter all night.
Hastings spent most of the fourth quarter practicing its delay offense in deliberate attempts to wind down the clock.
Heidi finished the evening with 17 points to lead all scorers. Wigg scored all of her 10 points in the first half. Nieuwkop led Wayland with eight points, most coming on free throws. Abby Omness and Chloe Coughlin both chipped in six points, with the latter swishing a pair of threes.
PHOTO: New Wayland girls’ varsity basketball coach Wes Hudson (center) accepts well wishes from Lady Wildcats softball coach Cheri Ritz (left), but his ballclub came out on the short end of a 50-32 score.
