WOODWARD — Van Meter used a strong third quarter and a clear rebounding advantage throughout the game to post a 62-31 West Central Conference victory over Woodward-Granger in girls basketball Friday.
Both teams wore red socks in honor of W-G junior Drew Jacobson, 16, who passed away Monday and whose funeral, held in the W-G gym Thursday, drew a crowd now estimated at over 1,000. Fans of both teams wore red (Jacobson’s favorite color) and the Bulldog cheerleaders showed their support as well by wearing red t-shirts over their uniform tops.
Van Meter (4-1, 3-1) held an 11-7 lead after one period of play and increased their advantage to 23-14 at the half. The Bulldogs used a clear advantage in size and height to dominate under the glass, an edge that became more pronounced and effective as the game wore on in the second half, enabling the visitors to steadily widen their gap on the scoreboard en route to the win.
The guests also caused repeated turnovers with a pressure defense that the hosts simply could not handle.
“We have to find someone who can handle the ball for us,” W-G head coach Gary Dresback said. “You are going to have a certain number of turnovers against the press of a good time like they (Van Meter) are, but we have to do better than we did tonight.”
Van Meter finished the game with a decided edge at the foul line as well, draining 22-of-31 free throws while W-G (0-3, 0-3) was just 4-of-14 at the stripe.
C.J. Jones hit for 20 points for the Bulldogs to lead all scorers, with Mackenzie Roberts adding 18 points. Bailey Junge and Ellie Folkerts had seven points apiece, with three points from Emma Durflinger, two from both Lyndsey Golwitzer and Kelsey Roberts and a free throw from Casey Jamison capping the Van Meter scoring.
Nine Hawks entered the scoring ledger, with Kendra Huismann scoring six points and Riley Jamison, Kayley Dresback and Emily Kuehl adding five points apiece. Alyssa Bice had three points, with Miranda Aunspach, Mary Hansen and Kaitlyn Peters scoring two points apiece while Riley Kirton added a free throw.
W-G hosts Ogden Tuesday, visits Madrid Friday and concludes the pre-holiday portion of their season with a trip to Panorama Dec. 22.
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