It was like another day at the office for the Wayland girls’ basketball team in the regional semifinals Tuesday evening at Charlotte against Belding.
The Lady Wildcats dispatched an opponent that sported a fine 18-5 record going into the contest by a 61-36 count that was eerily the same kind of game as its regular season contest and three district encounters. Same formula, same result.
Wayland has a tendency to beat up its opponent with tenacious pressure trapping defense for steals and layups and take an early lead so the bewildered foe doesn’t really have a chance to make a comeback. The game essentially is over by halftime.
So it was more of the same at Charlotte, where the Lady Wildcats raced out to an 18-8 advantage at the conclusion of the first stanza and an insurmountable 35-13 cushion at the half.
The leading scorer this time was junior guard-forward Ali Cutler, who meshed 17 points. All-stater Presley Hudson netted 15 and Caroline Miller and Sydney Ritz had eight apiece. Nine different Wildcat players broke into the scoring column, including sophomore Brinley Nieuwenhuis, a junior varsity player scoring her first varsity basket.
Wayland now will play at 7:30 Thursday evening in the regional finals against Haslett, a team with a 19-5 record and a 58-31 winner over Ionia in the regional semifinal.
PHOTOS: Sydney Ritz (5) Ali Cutler(12)
(Photos courtesy Kenny Ritz)
