West Liberty-Salem’s girls basketball team came of age Tuesday night.
The young Tigers, who do not have a senior on the roster, used a strong performance from junior post player Selena Weaver and some gritty defense to beat visiting Tippecanoe 40-35 in a non-league girls basketball clash.
The Tigers are off to a 2-0 start.
“We told the girls before the game that win or lose we were going to find out some things about ourselves tonight,” said WL-Salem head coach Dennis McIntosh. “We found out that we can compete with a great team with a lot of size inside. We were mismatched at different spots, but our girls fought hard. These girls just play so hard on defense.”
Weaver gave the Red Devils problems inside all night. She finished with a game-high 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
“The impressive thing was they were determined in the second half that they were not going to let her go to her left, so she went to her right a couple of times and scored,” said McIntosh. “That is a big boost for her confidence.”
A hard-fought first half ended with the Tigers ahead 16-15 at halftime.
The Tigers’ offense picked up in the second half.
Tippecanoe led 23-21 midway through the third quarter before WL-Salem rattled off a 7-0 run to lead 28-23 with 2:08 left in the period.
The Tigers pushed their lead to seven (32-25) going into the final stanza.
Tippecanoe opened the fourth quarter on a 6-1 spurt to cut WL-Salem’s lead to two (33-31).
However, the Tigers refused to let the Red Devils get any closer.
WL-Salem stretched its lead to six (39-33) with 1:32 remaining and held off down the stretch despite missing seven of its last eight free-throw attempts.
“We missed some free throws there at the end, but the girls didn’t get down,” said McIntosh. “They went right back on defense and played tough. I am confident when we are in that situation later in the season we will make those free throws.”
Sophomore guard Emily Hollar contributed 15 points and four steals for the Tigers and Grace Estes chipped in four points.
Kendall Clodfelter led the Red Devils (0-2) with 12 points.
In the junior varsity game, Tippecanoe won 32-13. Ayva Stewart led WL-Salem with five points.
The Tigers are back in action Saturday at home against Miami East.
WL-SALEM 40, TIPPECANOE 35
TIPPECANOE (0-2)
Smith 1 0-0 2; Mader 3 0-2 6; Wildermuth 1 0-0 3; Clodfelter 4 2-2 12; Hemmelgarn 4 2-2 10; Salyer 1 0-2 2. Totals: 14 4-8 35.
WL-SALEM (2-0)
Hollar 6 3-5 15; Cole 0 0-2 0; Estes 0 4-8 4; G. Willilams 1 0-2 3; S. Weaver 7 4-5 18. Totals: 16 11-22 40.
Red Devils 8 • 7 • 10 • 10 — 35
Tigers 6 • 10 • 16 • 8 — 40
Three pointers: Tippecanoe 3 (Clodfelter 2, Wildermuth); WL-Salem 1 (G. Williams). Rebounds: Tippecanoe 14; WL-Salem 18 (Weaver 8). Assists: WL-Salem 6. Steals: Tippecanoe 3; WL-Salem 8 (Hollar 4). Turnovers: Tippecanoe 12; WL-Salem 9. Team fouls: Tippecanoe 19; WL-Salem 12.