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Waterford girls advance in Division IV postseason play with win

Waterford’s Megan Ball goes up for a shot while a Fairfield defender tries to draw a charge during the Wildcats’ 46-17 win over the Lions Saturday in a Division IV semfinal matchup. MIKE  MORRISON, The Marietta Times

JACKSON, Ohio — The Waterford defense was tenacious.

The defending state champion Wildcats did not allow a single point for the first 12 minutes of the game and just five total points in the first half as they rolled to a 46-17 win Saturday over the Fairfield Lions in a Division IV semifinal contest at Jackson High School.

Megan Ball and Ali Kern combined for 27 points as the ‘Cats improved to 21-3 on the season.

“We knew the (Grace) Shope girl was a nice player and we wanted to make sure we kept pressure on her,” said Waterford head coach Jerry Close of his team’s defensive performance. “I thought the kids did a nice job of trying to wear her down as the game progressed.”

Waterford jumped out to an 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and then extended it to 14-0 on early second-quarter buckets by Rachael Adams, Hayley Duff and Kern.

After Shope finally got the Lions on the board with a free throw, the Wildcats out-scored Fairfield 8-4 the rest of the half including back-to-back field goals to close out the half by Ball to give them a 22-5 lead at the the break.

Waterford continued to add to its lead by scoring the first six points of the third quarter only to have the Lions score the next seven to trim the lead to 28-12.

The white and green quickly answered to close out the third as Adams knocked down four freebies and Kern a field goal to give Waterford a 34-12 lead entering the final period.

Fairfield could get no closer the rest of the way as the Wildcats cruised to victory.

Ball led all scorers with 14 points while also grabbing nine rebounds, while Kern completed a double-double by scoring 13 points and collecting 12 rebounds.

“I really thought our girls played a little more intense than they have the last few games,” said Close, whose defense allowed a grand total of four Fairfield field goals in the game. “With no seniors you kind of worry about what kind of leadership you are going to get but I thought the kids played hard today.”

Waterford forced the Lions into 26 turnovers in the game and dominated the boards by a 41-17 margin.

“We weren’t hitting shots early on but we were hitting the boards,” said Close. “We were giving ourselves a second or third opportunity and that is what we like to see,”

Fairfield (13-11) was led by Shope with seven points.

The Wildcats will take on South Webster in a district championship game on Wednesday night back in Jackson at 8:15 p.m.

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