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The Chagrin Falls girls basketball team got off to a quick start and never trailed in a 51-40 victory over rival West Geauga despite a strong effort from the Wolverines last week at West Geauga High School.
The victory lifts Chagrin Falls to 8-5 and 6-1 in the Chagrin Valley Conference as it also ended a three-game losing streak. West G dropped to 3-8, 2-5 as both teams closed out the first half of CVC play.
Chagrin Falls came out strong and raced to a 9-2 lead as four different Tigers scored. The lead grew to 23-13 at one point, but the Wolverines wouldn’t go away.
Chagrin Falls coach Brittany Anderson said the Tigers wanted to come out strong.
“This is a really tough gym to play in,” Anderson said. “We knew the first couple of minutes would set the tempo and intensity.”
West G coach Cheryl Rye said it was tough falling behind the Tigers.
“We just did not start out the game the way we wanted to,” Rye said. “Chagrin did what we expected. We knew number 15 (Madi Deignan) would shoot. And (West G’s) Hanna (Zuzek) did a great job on 23 (Chagrin Falls’ Brianna Baker).”
Pacing things for Chagrin Falls was Deignan, who scored 16 of her game-high 20 points in the first half. Zuzek not only led the Wolverines with 12 points, but she held Baker to just four. Zuzek also chipped in four rebounds and four assists.
“She’s a great shooter and works really hard at it,” Anderson said of Deignan. “She has ice water in her veins. She has the green light. Once she gets into a zone, we’re not taking her off the court.”
Deignan said it’s always nice to work with a lead.
“It’s always important to start out strong,” Deignan said. “They came back and made it a good game. When we start out strong, it creates confidence.”
Late in the third quarter, the Tigers again pushed their lead out to 39-27 but a 6-0 run to end the quarter by West G kept the pressure on heading into the final quarter at, 39-33.
Next, the Tigers scored the first five points of the fourth quarter as the lead grew to 44-33, but Heather Wilson of West G hit a 3-pointer and two foul shots to get the Wolverines back within 44-38.
“We got it down to six and even four, then we’d have two or three key turnovers,” Rye said. “Basketball is a game of runs. You’re not going to play a perfect half or a perfect game. You can’t hang your head. We get into our own heads too much. It’s a team sport. One player is not going to win or lose the game.”
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they got no closer as the Tigers held their rivals in check the rest of the game by making 6-of-8 foul shots.
Chagrin Falls also got nine points and nine rebounds from Maggie Clemens along with eight points, six assists and three rebounds from Kelly Dishong.
Jenna Kijauskas scored eight points with a game-high 11 rebounds and three assists for West G.
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