NEW WASHINGTON — Wynford, despite its youth, started out quickly, taking an early 6-0 lead over Buckeye Central before posting a 48-35 victory in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference opener here Tuesday night.
“It was a matter of you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. We come in here and play against kids who have won championships. They might not have been varsity starters last year, but they’ve been winning and winning and winning,” said Wynford head coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon.
Both the Buckettes and Lady Royals field young teams, with a combined 9 new starters from last season.
“Of course, with Phil (Loy) taking over the program that expectation is still overly high. So, we really talked about what is our expectation. They don’t want to lose either and we know that they’re reloading.”
Wynford (3-0, 1-0) had two freshmen make strong first impressions as 5-foot-9 post Brooke Frombaugh scored 14 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and had 2 steals. Guard Caroline Sheldon added 8 points, 5 assists and a steal.
“Caroline doesn’t play like a freshman. She plays with a lot of confidence,” said Loy. “They did a good job. We got off to a bad start. We knew they were going to try to beat us down the floor, but I don’t think the girls believed that until they actually saw it.”
Loy said his team did a good job of getting back into the game, making it 10-8 after one quarter.
“We got back in position and taking a lead (17-16 on a Mara McDougal three-pointer). The score was tied 19-all and Nevaeh (Metzger) picked up a foul. We decided to put her on the bench because there’s still a lot of time left in the second quarter … we went with it too long and probably should have put her back in,” he said.
From there the lead grew to 30-21 at halftime, as the Lady Royals went on an 11-2 run.
“We got sped up against their press and we’re throwing it all over the place, and they’re shooting lay-ups in a couple situations,” Loy said.
“That to me was a big part of the game. We take that run away and we’re right there. Obviously, we’ve got to get better at making shots and boxing out and all those little things.”
“We’ve got to play near perfect to beat some of these teams,” Loy said.
Buckeye Central (2-1, 1-1) was led by sophomore Aleyse Siefert’s 10 points and junior McDougal’s 8.
“This team has really good chemistry. We have a couple of kids who are capable of stepping up, offensively and defensively,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “This is the first time that half of our kids have been in this position to be 3-0. It’s a balance of understanding inexperience at varsity level and having great expectations.”
Wynford outscored the hosts 12-9 in the third quarter as the pace slowed. Siefert had 5 points and Frombaugh 4 as both teams tried to score inside.
“We knew going into the game that they were going to be pressuring us. But we had to work as a team,” Frombaugh said. “We’ve worked really good together and our seniors have been leaders and shown us how to work. I have high expectations for us.”
Buckeye eventually took more shots beyond the arc and hit just 4-of-13. Wynford connected on 3-of-8 from three-point range, with Sheldon draining a pair in the middle quarters.
“It’s two young teams,” Loy said. “Their guards are playing well. We don’t have a whole lot of depth. We’re not designed to be thoroughbreds. We’re Clydesdales, a little bit.”
Buckeye Central hosts Willard in a 7 p.m. tipoff Thursday. Wynford hosts Riverdale that same night in non-league games.
Loy saw plenty of good signs despite their first loss.
“We’ve got some kids stepping up playing well for us. Aleyse and Mara are giving great minutes and neither one of them saw varsity minutes last year. Other ones, you might not see it in the stat sheet, but they’re doing some good things. We just need to be more consistent,” he said.
Ella Evak added 6 points and 5 rebounds, and Allison Wright 4 points and 5 rebounds. They are Buckeye Central’s two seniors.
Taylor-Sheldon also has just two seniors on her squad in Zoe Whitmeyer and Kenna Caldwell. Both saw spot duty last season.
“For Zoe, who started out good and then played in streaks, that was good confidence building for her. She’s so consistent and is at the core of a lot of what we’re trying to do.”
Whitmeyer had 8 of her 12 points in the first half, scoring the game’s first four points.
“Buckeye did a great job of defending on the ball screen and making it difficult for us to go to Zoe and Brooke and Maggie (Ridge) inside.”
Ridge, a 5-foot-9 freshman, added 4 points and 4 boards off the bench.
“Sometimes we didn’t finish. Sometimes we did,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “More often than not we scored off our post feeds inside or out.
“They (Buckeye) battled and hit some big threes and were aggressive getting to the foul line. They’re going to be tough to play in the league.”
Box score
Wynford 10 20 12 6 — 48
Buckeye Central 8 13 9 5 — 35
Wynford (3-0, 1-0 N10): Shots 19-38; 3-pt. shots 3-8 (Caroline Sheldon 2, Maradath Engler); Free throws 7-11; Rebounds 26 (Brooke Frombaugh 12); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Caroline Sheldon 2 2 8, Bri Westrick 0 1 1, Zoe Whitmeyer 6 0 12, Maradath Engler 4 0 9, Brooke Frombaugh 5 4 14, Maggie Ridge 2 0 4.
Buckeye Central (2-1, 1-1 N10): Shots 12-48; 3-pt. shots 4-13 (Mara McDougal 2, Aleyse Siefert 2); Free throws 7-12; Rebounds 21 (Allison Wright 5, Ella Evak 5); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Mara McDougal 3 0 8, Allison Wright 2 0 4, Ella Evak 2 2 6, Nevaeh Metzger 0 4 4, Ella Collene 1 1 3, Aleyse Siefert 4 0 10.