The Wayland girls’ varsity basketball team was about as sluggish offensively as it’s been all season, except perhaps against Byron Center, but still overpowered host Middleville Friday night, 48-31.

The Lady Wildcats used a couple of offensive bursts in an otherwise lackluster performance against a struggling opponent. They shot out to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter, but then allowed TK to creep back into the thick of the contest at 13-11 with only about a minute and a half left until intermission.

Then came burst number two.

A 7-0 run was keyed by Ali Cutler canning a three and Sydney Ritz dropping in a layup off the fast break just before the buzzer. So the 13-11 lead ballooned to 20-11 at the half.

The Lady Wildcats put Middleville away in the third quarter on a three-ball by Ritz and by Cutler taking the basketball coast to coast and laying the ball into the hoop and getting a three-point play. Ritz hit another three and scored a layup off the break and just like that, Wayland was enjoying a 33-14 lead.

It was over over but the shouting.

Cutler netted 18 points to lead the Wildcats offensively again, Karli Warning ended up with 11 points and Ritz had 10.

Alyvia Thorne scored all of TK’s first nine points and finished with 10. Freshman Amiyah Vandergeld swished two consecutive threes to lead the excitement for the Trojans in the second half.

The win lifted the Lady Wildcats’ overall season record to 8-6 and they are now 3-3 in the O-K Gold Conference.

PHOTO: Ali Cutler had a pretty good offensive ballgame with 18 points against Middleville Thornapple Kellogg. (Photo courtesy of Kenny Ritz)