By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – The Westfield girls basketball team improved to 2-0 for the season Saturday night after holding off Pendleton Heights 48-45 at The Rock.
It was a back-and-forth game in the first half before the Shamrocks got things together and led for the entire second half. The Arabians got to within one point twice in the fourth quarter, but Westfield got the points it needed: Jade Shipley hit a huge 3-pointer to push the ‘Rocks ahead 46-42 with 1:30 left. Pendleton cut that lead to 46-45, but Ashtin DeCraene and Shipley both hit one free throw each in the final 18.9 seconds to seal the win.
Westfield coach Ginny Smith said her team played “gritty defensively” to get the win.
“Our kids really did a nice job. They came together, communicated well,” said Smith. “We got ourselves through screens, contained the basketball finally. They just killed us off dribble drive in the first half and I think second half, we did a nice job containing the ball.”
Shipley scored the first five points of the game, and a DeCraene 3-pointer gave Westfield a 10-2 lead midway through the first quarter. The Arabians then ran off 11 straight points to go ahead 13-10, but Gigi Eldredge made a late layin to cut the lead to 13-12 by the end of the period.
Pendleton led by as much as 17-12 early in the second, then was ahead 21-19. The Shamrocks took control for good with a 9-0 run, started by back-to-back triples from Regan Dimond and Shipley. Westfield led 28-23 at halftime, and stayed in front from anywhere between five and nine points until the Arabians made their late charge.
“I will say defensively, Ashtin DeCraene was incredible,” said Smith. “Without that defensive effort, the outcome’s not the same.”
Everyone contributed to the win. Shipley scored 19 points, including three 3-pointers. DeCraene had two 3s on her way to seven points, and also dished out five assists. Alyssa Crockett pulled 13 rebounds, while Eldredge made 10 rebounds. Emily Robinson and Jordan Hillis also came off the bench to score timely points.
“When you can have a kid coming off the bench and give you a good solid five, six minutes like Jordan Hillis did, it’s huge when you can have that,” said Smith. “And knock down a couple free throws, defend well, it was good. All-around good effort.”
The Shamrocks next play on Tuesday at Lawrence Central.
