Girls basketball: Quick start leads Bishop Watterson over River Valley
Sunday, December 17, 2023
By Scott Gerfen
sgerfen@cbussports.com
Bishop Watterson’s Sophie Ziel eyes the basket during the Eagles’ 47-33 win over River Valley at the “Battle in the 614” at Ohio Dominican Dec. 17. Photo: Kevin Lam
During a stretch of four games in eight days, Bishop Watterson coach Sam Davis wasn’t expecting such a fast start.
The Eagles scored the first 11 points and jumped out to a 17-3 lead before putting away Caledonia River Valley 47-33 during the Battle in the 614 event Sunday at Ohio Dominican University.
“It would be great if we could do that every game, but unfortunately, that doesn’t happen,” said Davis, whose team improved to 5-2 overall.
“I was a little worried about our legs because we played yesterday. We played a lot of people today because we play, again, Tuesday.”
Bishop Watterson’s Megan Goehring drives during the Eagles’ game with River Valley at Ohio Dominican Dec. 17. Photo: Kevin Lam
The win marked the third straight for Watterson, who hosts Marysville on Dec. 19.
Sophie Ziel led the way with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and Cameron Sparks added 10.
Seven players scored for the Eagles.
“Our younger kids have to learn to play varsity speed,” Davis said. “We did some things not like us today. We didn’t share the ball really, really well. … But our defense was very good, especially after playing yesterday.”
Watterson led 28-10 at halftime before River Valley made a run, winning in the third quarter 11-6 and cutting the Eagles’ lead to 34-24 with Myla Kennedy’s 3-pointer.
River Valley’s Halle Snyder led the Vikings with 13 points during their game with Watterson at Ohio Dominican Dec. 17. Here she fights the double team of Watterson’s Cameron Sparks (left) and Alexandria Mosholder. Photo: Kevin Lam
Halle Snyder led the Vikings with 13 points, while Lexie Hecker added eight and Kennedy finished with five.
“It’s difficult to come back from being down like that, especially against a good basketball team,” said River Valley head coach Tim Chiles, whose team dropped to 3-4.
“We battled, and we talked at halftime about just trying to cut it little by little and just giving yourself a chance. … Mentally, I think we’ve started some games where we give up baskets, and then we’re not sure we can play with them.”
River Valley looked its best in the third quarter, scoring the first six points.
“I think we got confident in our lead, and we stopped playing as hard,” Sparks said. “We had to get back into it, and it got better.”
River Valley head coach Tim Chiles talks to his team during their game against Bishop Watterson in the “Battle in the 614” Dec. 17 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: Kevin Lam