After having its season end with a loss to Pilot Grove in the Class 1, District 10 finals on Feb. 25, the Wellsville-Middletown girls basketball team remained upbeat.
The Tigers were happy that …
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After having its season end with a loss to Pilot Grove in the Class 1, District 10 finals on Feb. 25, the Wellsville-Middletown girls basketball team remained upbeat.
The Tigers were happy that they turned in their best season in 12 years, winning 11 games and reaching the district championship game for the first time in two decades.
“We really have nothing to be sad about,” W-M junior Natalie Boeckelman said.
The Tigers finished at 11-14 after starting off at 2-8. They almost quadrupled their win total of four from last year and reached double digits in victories for the first time since 2010.
With eight returning players, W-M is setting its sights on turning in an outstanding 2022-23 season.
“We’re expecting good things next year,” said Todd Cripe, who wrapped up his third season as W-M coach. “We need to work in the off-season. I told them that basketball players are made from April to October, not from November to March. We need to get a basketball in our hands. We need to work on skill development, play some games this summer, play some teams that we haven’t seen and try to figure out some things that we need to do to get better.”
The Tigers will lose only Dani Hager to graduation, but return Natalie Boeckelman, junior Carly Henderson, sophomores Bethany Slovensky, Jenelle Boeckelman, Meagan Cripe and freshmen Hallie Guzy, Indica Scott and Keigan Hall.
Slovensky was W-M’s lone representative on the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team, earning second-team honors. She was voted on the second team last year.
Guzy was another key offensive player for the Tigers. She was the team’s top scorer in the district tournament with 49 points. She also had several other strong performances, including an 18-point effort in the Tigers’ 55-49 win over Bowling Green in their home finale on Feb. 11 and a 10-point effort in W-M’s season opener against Mexico on Nov. 29.
The Tigers defeated Bowling Green 34-32 in the seventh-place game of the Montgomery County Invitational on Dec. 3 for their first win of the season.
W-M knocked off top-seeded Higbee 51-49 in the district semifinals on Feb. 22 to make its first district championship game appearance since 2001. Three days before, it beat Bunceton 55-36 in the quarterfinals for its first postseason victory since 2018.
The Tigers finished 4-5 in EMO play. Besides the win over Bowling Green on Feb. 11, W-M also came out on top against Mark Twain, Louisiana and Van-Far. Last year, they had just one win in conference play.
W-M finished third in the Keytesville Invitational for the second year in a row, defeating Southwest 52-14 in the third-place game on Jan. 28.
The Tigers also had victories over Bevier, Columbia Independent and Madison.
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