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Greenville
senior Karlee Lennen hits the floor after diving for a loose
ball in Wednesday's
game with Miamisburg. The Lady Wave fell to the
Vikings 56-37 in a GWOC crossover game.
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Vikings invade
Greenville
Lady Wave fall to
0-5
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- Despite some stellar offense and solid defense at times,
the Greenville Lady Wave couldn’t hold off Miamisburg Wednesday as the
Vikings dropped a 56-37 loss on Greenville.
It was a night that had more than its share of problems for the young
Wave team.
With a dozen turnovers in the third frame and the fact that the Vikings
won the quarter 21-5 to take a commanding 46-21 lead after three
quarters of play, the other three frames were either even or saw the
Wave winning those quarters.
Greenville coach Bill Plessinger talked about those positives.
“Not one negative word came from any of my staff in the locker room
after this game,” said Plessinger. “I told the girls if we had played
the last three games the way we played tonight; we’re 3-2 and not 0-5.
I also told them that by the time we get to our division (GWOC North)
we will be battle tested. If we would have played like this against
Xenia, we beat them by fifteen or twenty points.”
The GWOC crossover game was just another of the Wave games that will
eventually get Greenville ready for its portion of the GWOC North
schedule as Plessinger hopes his kids will only get stronger as teams
like Troy, Piqua and Sidney are coming later in the season.
“We are a work in progress,” said Plessinger. “In every game, we’re
getting better. We cannot be negative with the kids. Everything’s
positive and we just have to keep working hard and playing our game and
go out there and get after it.”
Trailing 11-6 after one, Greenville won most the second quarter but
would eventually trail at the break, 25-16, trailing by only nine.
“I was pleased in there at halftime,” said Plessinger. “Miamisburg is a
very strong, solid team and we were right there with them.”
As good as things were in the opening 16 minutes, it all fell apart in
the third quarter.
Going into the frame, trailing by single digits, the Vikings defense
turned the heat up on the Wave and forced a dozen Greenville turnovers,
that would eventually turn into a 46-21 lead for the visiting Vikes
with only eight minutes left to play.
It would be a lead that Greenville would never overcome despite
outscoring Miamisburg 16-10 in the final stanza.
“We played well,” said Plessinger. “We won that quarter with their
starters in the game. They never put their reserves in until there was
about a minute and a half left. I was pretty proud that I kept the
girls in as long as I could and build on that.”
The run for the Vikings stared at the end of the second frame and
escalated into a whopping 23-2 run to start the third quarter.
“We played them pretty much dead even other than that run they made on
us late in the first half and well into the third quarter,” said
Plessinger. “Between number ten (Rylie Parkhurst) and number 12
(Chelsea Hohenbrink), those two were shooting lights out on us. That
number ten is one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”
On defense, Plessinger threw everything but the kitchen sink at the
Vikings. A box and one, a matchup zone and a few other things,
before ending in a straight man defense.
“The box was working for us before that number 12 started hitting from
the outside on us,” said Plessinger. “We came out in the second half in
a triangle and two and the other girl started to light things up and
she was shooting from the boonies. So when you’re shooting like that,
it’s tough to defend.”
Greenville, 0-5, will host the defending D-1 state champions, Fairmont
next Friday in another GWOC crossover game.
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Lady Wave senior
Paige Tester looks for an open passing lane as she is surrounded by a
fleet of Vikings.
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