Despite wrong turn, Ripley can’t avoid Westview beatdown

Posted: Friday, November 30, 2012 12:00 pm

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
The bus driver for the Ripley girls’ basketball team got lost on the way to Martin Tuesday night.
The Lady Tigers might have been better off staying home.
Westview opened up the District 13AA season Tuesday night by sweeping Ripley, the Lady Chargers blowing out the Lady Tigers and the Chargers getting an 11-point win in the nightcap.
Ripley’s girls arrived late to game and did not provide much a test as Westview won easily 72-12.
It was a bit of a sloppy win for the Chargers in their 73-62 win over Ripley. Jazell Baker and Javier Gordon provided enough offense in the second for Westview to pull away and come out with the victory.
WV 72, Ripley 12 (G)
The Lady Tigers (1-6, 0-1) were late to the gym as the bus took a wrong turn on the way to Martin, causing the start of the game to be delayed. Once the game got started, the Lady Tigers still looked like they were taking a wrong turns.
Westview (5-1, 1-0) jumped out on top early, and before the Lady Tigers knew what hit them, they were looking at a 22-0 Westview lead. Ripley finally got on the board with a Daniella Phillips basket with 2:10 to play in the first quarter.
Westview went on another run after Ripley scored, this time it was a 12-0 run that went into the second quarter before Ripley scored its second basket of the game.
Westview had the game well in hand by the time the first half ended with a 55-4 lead. Tiffany Rechis was unstoppable with 21 of her game-high 24 points in the first half, the sophomore guard hitting three 3-pointers.
Teddy Vincent was also dominating in the paint with 14 of her 16 points in the first half.
“I thought Tiff came out and had a good game,” Westview head coach Sean Stephenson said. “Any win is a good win. I will take it no matter how we get it.”
With little doubt how the game was going to end, Stephenson used the blowout to give his reserves some playing time.
“Anytime you can play everybody and get some experience for your younger kids, it makes everybody happy,” Stephenson said. “Ripley is rebuilding, and I think coach Lanier is trying to do it the right way. Their program has been a little down for a while.”
Westview had seven players to score in the first half and the head coach was pleased so many of his players were able to score.
“I thought we shared the ball well and were unselfish and hit the open man,” the Lady Charger head coach said. “If someone was in front of us that was open, we threw the ball at her.”
The Lady Chargers will have a tougher test in district action on Friday when Dyersburg comes to town. The Lady Trojans are 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the district.
“We have two days to get better before Friday,” Stephenson said. “We will be glad to play another game at home.”
WV 73, Ripley 62 (B)
It was not a pretty win, but the Chargers (5-2, 1-0) will still take it after pulling away from Ripley (4-3, 0-1) in the second half, thanks to the combined 20 points from Baker and Gordon.
Baker scored nine of his game-high 19 points in the third period to help the Chargers build up a seven-point lead. Gordon scored 11 of his of his 17 points in the third period and 15 in the second half.
“If you had asked me, I would not have been able to tell you who it was,” Chargers head coach J.B. Suiter said. “We have eight or nine guys who can step up at any particular time and do that.”
The Chargers jumped out to a 9-2 lead midway in the opening period on Parker Beale’s jumper, but the Tigers came right back and outscored Westview 7-2 to make the score 11-9 after one.
The second period was back and forth with four lead changes and the game tied at 27 at the half. Westview could have built up a small cushion at the free throw line in the second period, but the Chargers missed six times out of 11 attempts.
Suiter was not expecting Ripley to give Westview such a tough game and disrupt the Chargers on the defense.
“Ripley came out and made us do some things that we did not like,” the Westview head coach said.
Ripley was able to get more second-chance looks at the basket, and the Chargers did not help themselves any by throwing the ball away on a few occasions.
The third period saw three lead changes before Tyquis Johnson gave Westview the lead for good with his basket at the 5:21 mark. Baker followed up Johnson’s basket with a 3-pointer to give the Chargers a four point lead. Baker scored his ninth point of the period shortly after hitting the three to give Westview a 40-34 lead.
Ripley’s Ty Webster hit a three just before the end of the third period to make the score 48-41.
Justin Johnson made the score 50-41 to begin the fourth period, but Webster hit another three to pull the Tigers to within six.
Beale made it an eight-point game on his basket and then Webster hit his third 3-pointer in a row to make it a five point game. Wesview answered right back with Jordan Davis’ 3-pointer.
Then Gordon took over by scoring 11 of Westview’s final 18 points to put the Tigers away.
The Chargers will return to action Friday night when they take on Dyersburg in another district matchup. Published in The WCP 11.29.12

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