HOLMES TOWNSHIP (Crawford County Now) — Defense was the determining factor as Carey set itself up for a first-place tie with a gritty 33-20 win over Wynford in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game here Friday night.
Poor shooting (6-of-41) from the field also hurt the Lady Royals, who slip to 14-5, 8-4 in the N10. The Blue Devils (16-3, 11-1) will visit Colonel Crawford next Saturday to determine first place.
“Defensively, we did a very good job. Holding the top scorer (14.8 ppg) in the N10, Caroline Sheldon, to six points and four of those were free throws toward the end,” said Carey head coach Keith O’Flaherty.
“I thought Addie (Adalyn Ritter) did an excellent job on her holding her scoreless in the first half.”
Wynford got an early basket from Jenna Filliater, then went about 9 minutes scoreless until Paige Sheldon got a putback to make it 14-5 midway through the second period.
The hosts started off an ice-cold 1-of-14 shooting.
Caroline Sheldon’s 6, along with Filliater’s and Maradath Engler’s 5 apiece, led the Lady Royals. Rylee Robinson snared 10 rebounds while Maggie Ridge and Caroline Sheldon had 3 steals each.
Carey was led by 5-foot-10 junior Bella Phoenix’s 10 points, while McKinnley Kessler added 8 points and 6 rebounds. Emily Brodman pulled down 8 boards.
Wynford head coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon said her team had its chances.
“I thought we did a good job crashing the boards (33 rebounds to 35) early. We didn’t handle their pressure at all. They did a great job and when you have pressure, your shots are rushed,” she said.
“I need to have us find a way to have more opportunities where we have better composure.”
Wynford also struggled to score in its last loss to Upper Sandusky.
“We have to get as many opportunities as possible with offensive rebounds and try to create some things defensively and do our best. But they did a great job locking Caroline down and got the best of her there. And it took a long time to recover.
“We just have to get back to the drawing board and work on some things.”
O’Flaherty credited Wynford with its defensive effort.
“They disrupted our offense quite a bit. They’re a quick team and a physical team; they’ll dig in and they’ve got good help-side when needed,” O’Flaherty said. “They made us work for every point we got.”
Trailing at halftime 17-8 Wynford mounted a mini rally when Caroline Sheldon drove for a basket and then hit Filliater with a pass that cut the score to 19-14.
Carey answered as Phoenix scored on an assist from Ritter and converted a free throw to push it out to 21-14, a lead that was never challenged.
“Bella gave us a little spark there and gave us some confidence,” O’Flaherty said.
“We came out flat after halftime. It looked like we went in and took a nap. It took us about 3 minutes to wake up and called a timeout just to settle them down a little bit.”
Looking ahead Carey has an opportunity to challenge the Lady Eagles for the top spot.
“We kind of control our own destiny, I guess,” he said. “We get to play next Saturday, probably for a league title there. It’s going to be a tough game. We’ve got to play hard, practice hard this week.
“This league is an awesome league. Nothing is a given. You’ve got to be ready to play.”
Breast cancer awareness
Despite the spirited play, there was a greater cause recognized inside Dr. Michael A. Johnson Gymnasium.
Wynford held a district wide “Pink Out” to honor the late Dawn Schaaf, who passed away from breast cancer on Aug. 15, 2025. The school has created a scholarship in her honor and had a bake sale, basket raffles and crowned a king of the court.
“We’ll probably have $7-8,000 for that, thanks to our generous community sponsors,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “It will help a student further their education who had special needs, or who had struggled academically or shown exceptional courage or kindness.”
Two moms of Wynford players, Toni Ridge and Amber Robinson, are breast cancer survivors.
“Toni had her last chemo treatment this week and rang the bell on Thursday. That was really exciting. It’s great to honor their moms that way. It’s about seeing the big picture and live out your best life with courage and kindness.
“It was a good night for our community to start a new tradition and honor some of our mothers.”
Box score
Carey 7 10 7 9 — 33
Wynford 3 5 6 6 — 20
Carey (16-3, 11-1 N10): Shots 10-35; 3-pt. shots 1-12 (Bayah Harsanje); Free throws 12-18; Rebounds 35 (Emily Brodman 8); Turnovers 12. Scoring: McKinnley Kessler 3 2 8, Bella Phoenix 3 4 10, Adalyn Ritter 2 2 6, Emily Brodman 0 3 3, Bayah Harsanje 2 1 6.
Wynford (14-5, 8-4 N10): Shots 6-41; 3-pt. shots 2-20 (Maradath Engler, Jenna Filliater); Free throws 6-10; Rebounds 33 (Rylee Robinson 10); Turnovers 15. Scoring: Rylee Robinson 1 0 2, Caroline Sheldon 1 4 6, Maradath Engler 1 2 5, Paige Sheldon 1 0 2, Jenna Filliater 2 0 5.
JV: Wynford 43-33.