The struggle for respectability for the Wayland girls’ varsity basketball team continues.
The Lady Wildcats, who were 1-20 two years ago and 6-16 last season, have been off to an 0-3 start this month, but two of the losses were to Class A teams. And the latest defeat, 62-46, came at the hands of Rockford Saturday in the first round of the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament.
The Wayland girls struggled mightily against the Rams’ full-court pressure and aggressive defense in the first quarter, falling behind 19-5, and they somehow lost their touch in boxing out for rebounds during the second half. Throughout the contest they had a hard time working the ball on offense.
Rockford did not match up well in terms of size, but found ways to get loose balls and force bad passes and ball-handling mistakes.
The Lady Wildcats staged a mild comeback in the second quarter, getting as close as 21-16 a couple of minutes before intermission, but Rockford quickly forged ahead to 29-16 by halftime with back-to-back three-point field goals by Anna Glynn and Madelyn Hutchings.
The Rams, besides employing aggressive pressure defense, were blessed by a lot of successful threes, four alone by diminutive point guard Hannah Morgan.
While Wayland had plenty of difficulty on the offensive side, sophomore pivot Stephanie Ainsworth canned nine of 13 shots inside the paint and nine of 11 free throw attempts to claim individual scoring honors for the game with 27 points. She demonstrated an uncanny resemblance to her brother, senior Cory Ainsworth, in dominating play inside.
However, the next highest scorer was Grace Dollarhide with six points. She and sophomore guard Parrish Hudson had the Wildcats’ only threes for the day. Ainsworth collected eight rebounds and Sara VanderWeide seven.
Glynn led Rockford with 14 points, Morgan had 13, Sydney Reinke nine and Hutchings eight.
The Wildcats still will be searching for their first win of the season at 2 p.m. Thursday when they take on Grand Rapids Catholic Central at Cornerstone.
COVER PHOTO: Sara VanderWeide puts up a baseline jumper to score one the few baskets not tallied by Stephanie Ainsworth for Wayland.