Wyandotte Girls Basketball Rebound After First Quarter; Win Advances Them to District Title Game

The Woodhaven Warriors girls basketball team came out firing in Wednesday night’s district semifinal game against the .

However, Wyandotte quickly grabbed control and headed to a 59-43 victory on the floor of Gibraltar Carlson.

The win sends the Bears into a showdown with Southgate Anderson for the district title Friday night. 

Wednesday’s game began with Woodhaven launching a three-point attack. Early in the first quarter the team had already made three.

On the defensive side, a hard-pressing Warriors team barely let Wyandotte get out of the backcourt. Despite this, the Bears were only down 18-13 when the first quarter ended. 

Senior guard Maricella Ruiz scored early in the second quarter and Wyandotte began mounting a comeback.

Three-point shot attempts continued, but were no longer falling. In addition, Wyandotte started to solve the Woodhaven defense and began opening up more fast breaks. 

Wyandotte head coach Ron Adkins said his team was prepared to face Woodhaven’s tough pressing defense.

The team simulated in practice by playing against seven or eight defenders, instead of the standard five, Adkins said.

A bucket by junior center Alyssa Kainz cut Woodhaven’s lead down to 21-20. Soon after, a shot by Ruiz put the Bears up for the first time, giving Wyandotte a lead it would maintain the rest of the way. 

The Bears went into the half up 32-24.

Junior center Jamie Szczechowski netted Wyandotte’s first third-quarter points and the team’s lead started to grow.

One key moment was a Wyandotte steal and successful fast break by senior guard Rebecca Carley. Her points gave the Bears a 46-31 lead and the third quarter ended with Wyandotte in front 48-36.

“We kept our heads up,” Carley said. “We knew where the open people were.”

A brief surge of tight fourth-quarter defense by the Warriors resembled the team’s first-quarter effort. Unfortunately for them, it did not last long and was too little too late. 

Fouls did put Wyandotte in the penalty early, but overall Woodhaven was only 6-18 from the free-throw line last night.  

Late in the game, more fast-break points from Carley gave Wyandotte a 55-41 lead.

Ruiz put the game on ice after hitting a shot, then quickly grabbing a rebound on the other end with about two minutes left.

“I’m so excited, that was a great game,” Carley said.

 Adkins said he was impressed with his team’s effort.

“I’m very proud of the way they played tonight,” Adkins said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.” 

Ruiz and Szczechowski led Wyandotte with 15 points each. Woodhaven junior Elizabeth Michaels and sophomore Salina Shubik led the Warriors with nine points each.

Wyandotte returns to Gibraltar Carlson on Friday for the district championship game against the Southgate Anderson Titans. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.