Lady Hornets crush Arlington in Perry

mbrown@sunmulti.com

As Arlington Christian’s starting center Ana Anderson could

only sit and watch from the bench, Westfield’s Lady Hornets went on an 11-0

first half run Friday and completely dominated the Lady Eagles – one of the

GISA’s state champions from the previous season – 78-57 in the first time these

two clubs battled in Perry since last year’s finals.

Callie Hammerle, point guard, paced the Lady Hornets with 20

points. Sydney Ledford, open time and again during the second quarter, had all

19 of her points in the first half.

With all of the uncontested opportunities inside, Westfield

made just three 3-point baskets.

Larisa Bishop of Arlington led all scorers with 23 points.

This was the third time Westfield and Arlington played since

Arlington continued a long run of state championship victories at the expense

of the Lady Hornets in the GISA AAA finals of 2012. Two meetings in the current

season were split, Westfield actually winning on the Lady Eagle home floor and

Arlington taking a Tattnall  Square

Christmas tournament semifinal.

After falling down by four, the Lady Hornets caused numerous

problems for Arlington with their defense – doubling down on Anderson – and

out-running the visitors on the break. Two times the home time out-did the

full-court press, with touches off the floor going from Hammerle to McKinley

Walton to Ledford.

The forward also found Hammerle for a jumper in the middle

of the lane.

Bishop and Anderson executed the pick-and-roll together, and

then Bishop scored five for her team in a row. But the Lady Eagles couldn’t

handle the basketball well in transition, Kate Moseley scoring the first

3-pointer and Chelsea Whaley stripping the ball from Anderson on the run.

The first quarter ended with Westfield up by one, but

Arlington would lose Anderson to her second personal foul with only three

seconds on the clock. Those two foul shots were just the beginning of the

decisive run of 11 straight.

Ledford ran the floor to take in her own block, and Moseley

– out of Arlington’s timeout – stole the inbound for an assist to Hammerle.

Moseley had two steals in the quarter plus assisted one of the numerous Ledford

lay-ups for a 28-19 lead.

The blueprint played itself out over and over when Arlington

tried to press without Anderson there as the anchor.

Westfield would attack

right in the middle of the lane with players like Ledford spaced out unguarded

to take passes. Whaley and Hammerle each assisted a score in this set, and

Whaley earned another one to Valerie McLure for 34-23.

In all, Westfield scored 30 in the second quarter to go up

at the half 47-30. In a stretch of seven points in a row off turnovers, McLure

had a steal and assist to Hammerle and Walton nailed only the second 3-pointer.

In the final two minutes, Ledford had two more inside scores (assists to McLure

and Walton) plus an assist to Whaley, who had nine points for the game.

The Lady Hornets did not score in the third period until

4:55 from the foul line. Anderson was back in the lineup and made her first

field goal to go with two steals. But Westfield’s margin only went down to 13,

and the first basket was at 4:20 as Walton took the ball to Anderson for 51-37.

Up again by 13, the home team scored seven in a row, four by

McLure. Hammerle also went at Anderson with a baby hook shot to end the quarter

at 62-41.

Moseley finished with 12 points. She ending one more

press-break on McLure’s pass after Bishop scored an early fourth-quarter trey.

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