WAYNESBORO – In a league dominated by the likes of Northern York and Greencastle-Antrim, the rest of the Mid-Penn Colonial Division has been characterized by an “any given night” scenario in which teams haven’t created any separation between each other and can be beaten by any other team.
On Tuesday night at Waynesboro Area Senior High School, the Waynesboro Maidens faced off against such a team in the Shippensburg Lady Greyhounds. Head coach Heidi Shaull’s team, coming off a season sweep of Gettysburg (37-34 in Gettysburg), lost 40-35 to the Lady Hounds in Shippensburg earlier this month in a game that could have gone differently.
The same could have been true this time around, but it would have taken a much different set of circumstances for that to have happened.
Shippensburg set the tempo early and maintained it for the rest of the game on its way to a convincing 56-37 victory. Playing behind a solid scoring tandem of Elke Staver and Ryleigh Minor, the Lady Hounds didn’t allow the Maidens to get too close during a game that did see Waynesboro put together a couple rallies.
Shippensburg built a 12-0 lead before the Maidens outscored the Hounds 14-12 the rest of the first half but still trailed 24-14 at halftime.
Kiera Pryor got Waynesboro on the scoreboard and Slaydon Fisher made a three-point field goal to cut down a double-digit lead to 12-5. A layup by Nikki Davis made it 12-7, but the Greyhounds scored on their next two times down the floor in the first quarter to lead 16-7 after the first eight minutes.
It was 18-7 after Minor connected following a missed Waynesboro scoring opportunity. Minor made another shot to up the lead to 20-9, and it was 22-10 following a free throw from Waynesboro’s Pryor and a bucket by Shippensburg’s Acasia Beam.
Gracie French received a pass underneath from Fisher and converted it into a layup, and after Staver made a pair of foul shots, French made another close-range shot, this time on a nice pass from Addie Shaull to close the scoring in the first half.
If the Maidens were to chip away at the deficit in the second half and have a chance to win for the eighth time this season, they would have to do so without giving away possessions. But that didn’t happen, as Waynesboro committed turnovers on its first three possessions and missed a shot and saw itself in a 32-14 hole early in the third quarter.
The Maidens (7-11) narrowed the gap to 33-23 thanks to a field goal and two free throws by Pryor, another basket by French, a field goal by Fisher and a charity toss by Genesis Alvarez.
But, like earlier attempts to get back into the game, efforts to make a better game of it eluded the Maidens as the Greyhounds knocked down a three-pointer to end the scoring in the third period and scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to forge a 43-23 lead.
Waynesboro returns to the court on Thursday at home against James Buchanan. The Maidens are on the road Friday at Greencastle-Antrim.
