WCA girls play strong against tough opponents

The West Central Area girls basketball team went 1-2 last week with a narrow loss to eighth-ranked (Class A) BOLD Tuesday, a loss to 12th-ranked (Class AA) Montevideo Thursday and a win over Melrose Friday.

The Lady Knights, 9-12, next play against Minnewaska Thursday, Feb. 16, in Barrett. Next Monday, Feb. 20, WCA hosts Hancock, in Barrett.

BOLD 68

WCA 66

West Central Area nearly pulled off an upset of the eighth-ranked (Class A) BOLD Warriors Tuesday, Feb. 7, in Barrett.

After a Mya Foslien four-point play put WCA up 61-56, BOLD closed the game on a 12-5 run to win 68-66.

“We gave up too many free throws at the end,” WCA first-year coach Becca Holland said. “We had 30 seconds to get a shot off – the goal was to run down the clock and get a shot. We ended up turning it over.”

After shooting just 37 percent in the first half and trailing 37-28 at the break, the Knights bounced back with a 51.9 shooting percentage in the second half to out-score BOLD 38-31.

WCA had four players in double figures in the loss. Foslien led the Knights with 16 points on 5-of-7 from three-point range. Macy Grosz chipped in 15 with six assists and six rebounds. Claire Stark had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Addison Staples added 12 points with eight boards and four assists.

The Knights are 8-11, the Warriors 16-4.

Montevideo 75

WCA 59

Montevideo used a strong shooting night to earn a 75-59 West Central Conference victory over West Central Area Thursday, Feb. 9, in Barrett.

“We’re a team that is scoring the ball really well right now,” Montevideo head coach Anthony Jackson told the West Central Tribune. “I don’t know if I like this pace long term, but we were fortunate to be shooting a high percentage (against WCA), which helped.”

“They didn’t miss much,” WCA coach Holland admitted. “We played very well in the 2-3 (zone) and gave 22 (Avery Koenen) a lot less points than we did the first go around. They are a very good team and we learned a lot from that game.”

Koenen had 16 points for the T-Hawks, who got a team-high 18 from Teagan Epema.

WCA got a game-high 19 from Mya Foslien along with 14 from Macy Grosz and 13 from Claire Stark and another 12 from Addison Staples.

Montevideo is ranked No. 12 in Class AA and moved to 16-3 on the year while WCA fell to 8-12.

WCA 55

Melrose 42

WCA picked up a 55-42 West Central Conference win over Melrose Friday, Feb. 10, in Barrett.

The Knights jumped out to a 21-10 lead at halftime with a team-high eight points from Macy Grosz.

Their performance wasn’t pretty, WCA coach Becca Holland suggested.

“We didn’t play super well,” Holland said. “The JV girls brought the spark for us off the bench.”

WCA was led by 18 points apiece by Grosz and Claire Stark, who had 14 points in the final 18 minutes.

Mya Foslien chipped in nine and Izzy Puchalski added five off the bench for the Knights.