By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
The early words to describe this year’s Westfield girls basketball team: Balance and defense.
The Shamrocks got both of those during their season opener Wednesday at The Rock. Westfield defeated Lapel 48-26 in a game it was in control of from start to finish.
The ‘Rocks had 10 players score out of the 11 that played, and held a Bulldogs team that went 18-6 last year to just 26 points. The last time Westfield allowed an opponent fewer points was on Dec. 15, 2015, when it beat Avon 51-25.
Coach Ginny Smith, beginning her third season with the Shamrocks, said there were moments when her team executed well and had good ball movement, then had moments where they were a bit stagnant.
“But overall, I thought our intensity was good,” said Smith. “I thought our effort was really good. We shot the ball decent.”
Westfield led 17-5 after the first quarter, with Ryann Bunting throwing a pair of 3-pointers. Sophia Kreag also added a first-quarter 3. The ‘Rocks then led 27-13 at halftime, with Megan Rops draining a 3-pointer. All three are seniors.
Jade Shipley had a fantastic third quarter, scoring seven points, including a 3. Shipley would make another long-range basket in the fourth quarter and finish the game with 11 points, and also made four assists. Bunting led Westfield’s scoring with 12 points.
The ‘Rocks did not allow Lapel more than eight points in a quarter.
“I do feel like defensively we had a game plan and I felt like the kids did a really nice job executing it,” said Smith.
On the rebounding side, Westfield counted 13 offensive board as part of its overall total of 30. Annabelle O’Hair pulled eight rebounds. Rops had three offensive boards, as did Bunting and Gigi Eldredge, a freshman who played a great game.
“We don’t have a ton of size,” said Smith. “We’ve got some speed. There’s a couple kids out there that are really athletic and they just have a great nose for the basketball. We did get a couple easy putbacks because of that.”
The Shamrocks travel to Pendleton Heights on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. game.
