Make it two out of three on the young season for Coach Jason Claytor and his West Union Lady Dragons. The West Union girls picked up that second win on Wednesday, Dec. 1. The Lady Dragon entertained the Lady Indians from Western Latham High School and after being down by eight points midway through the fourth quarter, the home team rallied for a nice come-from-behind 62-58 victory.

“A win is a win and that is the most important thing,” said Coach Claytor. “Play wise we still have a lot of room to grown and get better but it’s nice to be able to get a win when things don’t really go our way. I thought we missed too many easy shots and we turned the ball over way too much. We have to improve our ball control in order to get where we need to be.”

“We did shoot the ball really well from the outside, hitting 8 out of 15 three-point shots. It was nice to see some of those shots start to fall.”

The game was tied after one quarter at 13 apiece, then West Union on top 24-21 at halftime, tied at 40 after three periods, and the Lady Dragons outscored Latham 22-18 in the fourth for the win.

“I thought our depth helped us tonight,” added Claytor. “In that fourth quarter, we got some quality play off the bench from Kaylee Welch and Hannah Riddle.”

The Lady Dragons got a second consecutive career-high in scoring from senior Mikayla Akers, who after scoring 18 in a loss to Fayetteville, came back in the win over Western to post 19 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Freshman Jaycee Baldwin came off the bench to record her first-ever high school double double, getting 15 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, hitting 3 for 5 from beyond the three-point line. Freshman Alexa Pennington also joined in the rebound parade, hauling in 7 boards.

“Overall, I’m happy with the win, but we need to keep working and getting better,” said Coach Claytor. “There’s still a long way to go in the season and we have a lot to improve on. If we keep working and figure out a way to bring the intensity for 32 minutes, I really like the thought of where we can be and what we can achieve.”

WESTERN 13 9 18 18 —58

W. UNION 13 11 16 22 —62

W. Union (62): Runyan 5, Welch 4, Baldwin 15, Kirker 6, Akers 19, Riddle 3, Grooms 6, Pennington 4.

Three-Point Goals: Runyan 1, Baldwin 3, Kirker 2, Akers 1, Riddle 1

https://www.peoplesdefender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Dragon.jpg
W. Union 62 W.Latham 58

By Mark Carpenter

mcarpenter@civitasmedia.com

Reach Mark Carpenter at 937-544-2391 or on Twitter @adamscosports.