Girls Basketball: Sydney Mobley, Olentangy blow by Olentangy Berlin
Friday, December 8, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Olentangy’s Sydney Mobley works against Olentangy Berlin on Dec. 8 at Olentangy. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Olentangy girls basketball coach Jamie Edwards may have called off the full court press early. But the Braves didn’t stop pressuring visiting Olentangy Berlin on Feb. 8.
Olentangy had 19 steals and forced 26 turnovers on its way to a 65-25 win over the Bears in OCC-Cardinal Division play.
After Sydney Mobley scored 14 points and added five rebounds to help the Braves build a 19-3 lead at the end of the first, Edwards decided he didn’t need the press.
“Sydney set the tone from the beginning – five straight times to the rim,” Edwards said. “The pressure hurt them. We tried to negate anything they could do. Every time they called a set, our girls were told to go even tighter into their hip so they had to turn and look away from the basket. It just took their offense completely away from them.”
Olentangy’s Whitney Stafford (right) looks for shot against Olentangy Berlin’s Layla Merriweather on Dec. 8, at Olentangy. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Mobley finished with 22 points, seven rebounds, five steals and a pair of assists in limited time because of foul trouble and a lopsided score.
Whitney Stafford had an “off night” according to Edwards, but still finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
“(I) leaned on my defense,” she said. “But once my shots weren’t falling, it was about getting other people involved and then rebounding and moving the ball around.”
Chayla Rankin had three steals in the third quarter alone and finished with six points and four steals and Katie Heyd scored nine points and added a pair of steals – all in the fourth quarter for the Braves (5-0, 2-0).
Olentangy Berlin’s Ava Fate (24) secures the ball while Olentangy’s Chayla Rankin (22) defends Dec. 8 at Olentangy. Photo: John Hulkenberg
“That was definitely our first team win where we were able to get everybody involved,” Edwards said. “We’re pretty deep – that’s for sure and that’s the key. We’ve got guards galore and we’ve got bigs.”
Layla Merriweather led the Bears (4-1, 1-1) with 10 points and five steals and added three rebounds.
“(Olentangy) had a couple of offensive rebounds and a couple of straight-line drives (early) and it didn’t really get out of our heads,” Berlin coach Brock Cunningham said. “I told the girls after the game that this is not the team they are, this is not the team they’ve been to start the season and they will respond from this.”