Wildcats, Eagles face off in our Game of the Week

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

The Woodmore girls basketball team finds itself in a great spot, sitting in first place in the Northern Buckeye Conference with a 7-1 record and a 5-0 mark in the league.
Eastwood, which had won four straight games before falling to Fostoria, is 4-3 and 3-2 in the NBC, good for fourth place in the conference.
The teams, traditional rivals dating back to their time in the Suburban Lakes League, will play on Tuesday in Pemberville.
The Eagles were dominant during the four-game win streak, won by an average of 16.8 points. A win over the Wildcats would put Eastwood within a game of first place in the league.
In the 49-38 win over Genoa, Amelia Ward scored 14 points to lead Eastwood. The Eagles forced 30 turnovers and defeated Otsego 47-22 on Dec. 1 as Kayla Buehler scored 20 points and Kyrie Henline chipped in with 14. The 49-38 win over Edison saw Ward put up 14 points and Buehler scored 12.
“Amelia, she’s really doing a nice job of stepping into her role. I think she’s doing a nice job of stepping into the role of offensively leading us — some nights that might be points, assists or crashing the offensive boards. I’m proud of the way she’s starting to play. She looks more relaxed out there,” said Eastwood coach Brittany Butler. “Kayla is doing a really good job. She has some high games, some games where she might not be hitting from the perimeter, but she still does a great job attacking (the basket). I think that’s something we want her to continue to do.
“Saylor King, Grace Kingery and Paige Hoodlebrink, they’re doing the little things that don’t show up in the box score. We love those things from those kids. Kyrie does a nice job of coming off the bench for us. She’s not afraid to drive the lane, much like Amelia, and she’s started to slow down a little bit and let the game come to her.”
Butler, a 2012 graduate of Elmwood, talked about her past experience with Woodmore.
“Coach (Kyle) Clair is great. I always respected him when I was a player, and now as a coach. He does such a nice job with the program and with the girls. Woodmore felt like our rival at Elmwood because they’re so aggressive, so defensively sound,” said Butler. “We knew that game was going to be physical and get after it. I felt like there was always respect between the teams. I remember those days when you’d go so hard at it – you’re competing and you want to win – but off the court, you were friends, and you kind of forgot about that. I’m going to miss that with Elmwood and Woodmore getting out (of the NBC) next year.”
Woodmore has won seven consecutive games.
The most important win was a 69-64 overtime victory over the Lady Red, a game that saw Macey Bauder take over, scoring a game-high 30 points. Cameran Quisno scored 11 points and Alayna Hahn, who scored 10 points, hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the extra session.
The other six wins saw the Wildcats hold their opponents to 31 points or less.
Woodmore coach Kyle Clair talked about the team’s win over Fostoria, which he had to watch from home after contracting the coronavirus.
“We knew that was a highlighted game on the schedule. Coach (Craig) Mintz has a really good squad; we knew it was going to be a good test for us,” said Clair. “Both teams matched up well as far as their styles go. The atmosphere was great for both sides, and everybody stepped up for us, Macey had a big game.”
Clair, now in his 15th season, has coached against the Eagles many times.
“That’s another NBC matchup that’s always been really entertaining. With (former) Eastwood coach (Nick) Schmeltz over the years, we had fun competing against them.”