Caldwell’s Laynie Sidwell (11) runs the fast break with Wood County Christian’s Ellie Piatt trailing (3) during Thursday’s game at Wood County Christian HIgh School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

WILLIAMSTOWN — Similar to oncoming severe weather, preparation can alleviate only so much of what’s about to strike.

Thursday night, the Wood County Christian girls basketball team ran into an athletic bunch of individuals from Caldwell who played straight-up man and created their share of problems for the Wildcat offense in a 72-21 victory.

“We knew this game was going to be very fast paced and very physical,” WCCS coach Nathan Boron said after his team slipped to 3-2. “We watched them on film and knew they were a different caliber that we had not played yet. I tried to prepare for it the past two days.

“This is the first team we have seen a real tight man. We have seen a lot of teams play zone and our zone offenses have been running really well. The man kind of stumped us a bit.”

Caldwell ambushed WCCS with its pressure from the outset, forcing the Wildcats into 12 turnovers in the first quarter. Behind nine points from Mea Hendershot the Redskins built a 21-3 lead with one minute remaining in the period.

Wood County Christian’s Hannah Parsley (1) gets her path toward the basket cut off by Caldwell’s Lyla Lowe (21) during Thursday’s game at Wood County Christian High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Caldwell’s pressure didn’t let up in the second quarter either. WCCS committed nine turnovers as the Redskins took a 36-11 lead into halftime. The primary culprit was Breighlee Moracco, who scored eight of her game-high 19 points.

Also scoring in double figures for Caldwell was Hendershot with 16 points.

“Every single day, we work on getting right after it from the start – we like to pressure the ball,” Caldwell coach Heather Saliba said after her ballclub improved to 7-2. “The girls bring the energy every single day. They just go hard. You can’t ask for a better group of girls.”

Morocco’s two 3-pointers in the first half was only a sample of how well the Redskins shot as a whole beyond the arc. For the game, they made 10 threes on 26 attempts (36%) against WCCS’ 2-3 matchup zone.

“We’ve seen a lot of zone this year, so the more we come up against it the better we are getting at it,” Saliba said.”We are a hard team to match up with man, so we work on a lot of zone every day. Right now, we are just trying to establish our post play.”

Wood County Christian’s Brooke Arnold throws a bounce pass while being defended by Caldwell’s Lyla Lowe (21) during Thursday’s game at Wood County Christian HIgh School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

At 5-foot-8, WCCS freshman Brooke Arnold managed to take advantage of Caldwell’s interior. She finished with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks and two steals.

“Brooke has come a long way,” Boron said. “She is still young and she struggled with the physicality of the older girls guarding her. Again, she hadn’t seen that. I thought she responded to it very, very well.”

The Wildcats only other scorer, Eliza Amos, buried three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 11 points.

Although WCCS’ adjustment after halftime did not reflect on the scoreboard, coach Boron was pleased to see how his girls responded on the court in the second half.

“At halftime, I told the girls we are going to fix the things that we were doing wrong,” Boron said. “I liked the improvement and that’s all you can ask for.”

Wood County Christian’s Ellie Piatt (3) is defended by Caldwell’s Laynie Sidwell during Thursday’s game at Wood County Christian High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

In addition to the post, Caldwell is also putting importance on extending its bench by scheduling junior varsity games whenever possible. On Thursday, the reserves accounted for 22 points.

“The girls are getting better every single day and they are playing together better,” Saliba said. “This is like a new program. The girls have been with each other, but we have a whole new freshman class that has a lot of talent.

“The girls are having fun. They mesh really well.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

Caldwell’s Breighlee Moracco talks to a teammate on the bench while taking a break during Thursday’s game against Wood County Christian played in Williamstown.(Photo by Kerry Patrick)