Defense, 3-point shooting keys Lady Pirates win over Lady Rams

RACELAND — A dominating defensive effort and long range shooting provided the right mix needed for the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates to roll their way to a 63-42 win over the Raceland Lady Rams in the final game of the Ryan Keeton Exp Realty Ohio River Classic.

Callie DeHart delivered a 21-point performance to lead the Lady Pirates. The senior hit 4 shots from behind the arc, had 4 rebounds and 4 steals.

Jaylinn Prather finished with 11 points and 5 boards. Lainey Skeens hit 3 triples for 9 points. Peyton May had 8 points, 8 rebounds and a pair of assists. Ava Artrip had 7 points, 6 assists, and 6 steals.

Raceland got another huge game out of Naomi Maynard, who came into the game as one of the top scorers in Eastern Kentucky. The senior point guard finished with a game-high 28 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.

However, Lady Pirates were able to limit the rest of Raceland's scorers with the next highest scorer having 5 points.

The Lady Pirates forced 15 turnovers in the first half to help build up a 35-14 lead at the half. Those turnovers were all forced by the aggressive play of DeHart, Artrip, Prather and Myles Bailey.

While the defense was taking control on one end of the floor, the offense put together a scoring run that started in the final minute of the opening quarter and carried over into the second.

After Aubrey Terry sank a free throw to cut Wheelersburg's lead to 15-6 with 40 seconds left in the opening stanza, the Lady Pirates went on a 15-2 run over a nearly 6 minute span of the half.

The run was highlighted by Skeens burying two 3-points and a score from DeHart where she drew a foul on a give-and-go layup and converted the free throw for a 3-point play.

Raceland was able to end the run when Naomi Maynard busted a triple from well above the top of the key to make the score 30-11 with 2:15 remaining before halftime.

DeHart would later finish off the first half scoring with a steal up top and took it in for a layup to give Wheelersburg a 35-14 lead at halftime.

The scoring evened out in the second half, Wheelersburg's lead was too much to overcome for Raceland.

Wheelersburg 17 18 16 12 = 63

Raceland 6 8 13 15 = 42

WHEELERSBURG (5-2): Callie DeHart 4 4 1-1 21, Jaidyn Tilley 0 0 0-0 0, Ava Artrip 2 0 3-4 7, Chloe Augustin 0 0 0-0 0, Clara Watkins 0 0 1-4 1, Myles Bailey 0 0 4-4 4, Lainey Skeens 0 3 0-0 9, Makenzie Mullens 1 0 0-0 2, Lexi Hickman 0 0 0-0 0, Peyton Ward 0 0 0-0 0, Jaylinn Prather 1 3 0-2 11, Peyton May 3 0 2-4 8. Totals: 11 10 11-19 63. Rebounds: O-17. D-21 = 38 (May 8, Prather 5). Assists: 13 (Artrip 6, Bailey 2, May 2). Steals: 16 (Artrip 6, DeHart 4). Blocks: 2 (Prather, Skeens). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

RACELAND (5-6): Karsyn Caudill 0 0 0-0 0, Addison Thornburg 1 1 0-0 5, Sophia Maynard 1 0 0-0 2, Aubrey Terry 0 0 1-2 1, Braylee Truell 0 0 2-2 2, Nessa Wright 0 0 0-0 0, Lilah White 0 0 1-2 1, Annie Lyon 0 0 0-0 0, Sydney Childers 0 1 0-0 3, Naomi Maynard 7 3 5-7 28. Totals: 9 5 9-13 42. Rebounds: O-8. D-20 = 28 (S. Maynard 9, Lyon 6, Childers 4, N. Maynard 4). Assists: 3 (S. Myanard, Lyon, Childers). Steals: 7 (N. Maynard 4, Childers 2). Blocks: (Lyon 3, N. Maynard 3). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.