The Lady Fliers learned in a hurry what a Fury meant to 17-1 Westlake on Jan. 25 in the Demons’ gym.
Monica Fury, Southwestern Conference ‘Player of the Year’ scorched the nets for 16 of her game high 21 points in the first half to lead her team to a 45-33 victory over Clyde.
Although the Lady Fliers kept her at bay in the second half, a disastrous second quarter gave the Westlake ladies all they needed to score victory number 17.
The first quarter seemed to be “getting acquainted” time with the western Cleveland suburb. Westlake, a Division I team ranked No. 6 in the Cleveland area, played gracious hosts and played an even quarter (12-12) with their Sandusky County guests. Fury started on fire with nine points in the opening stanza.
Then, someone must have snuck in and placed a lid on the Flier basket and greased the Lady Flier hands for in the “please forget it” second quarter, as Fury and company rattled the Fliers into numerous turnovers leading to 16 points versus a mere four points from Addie Martin on two buckets.
The second half the Flier girls kept playing hard and Westlake could not extend their lead by game’s end. The score could have been worse, but the Fliers generated 11-of-17 from the line to just 1-of-2 for Westlake. The Lady Demons dominated otherwise with six 3-pointers and 13 field goals to Clyde’s eight.
“I was proud of our girls’ effort; Westlake has an excellent team with good shooters in addition to Fury,” Clyde coach Dave Lozier.
In the end the game proved that mistakes for just one period against a stellar squad can prove fatal to any victory hopes. It is a common flaw of any young team, but the encouraging note from the game was that Flier fans saw an effort from the girls that would have beaten most teams.
Westlake just isn’t like most teams.
The JV team and new coach, a Bellevue graduate, Janelle Raifsnider continued their winning ways. Winning their 17th game against a lone loss to the coach’s alma mater, the Lady Fliers used a strong first and third quarter to dish the 7-10 JV Demons a 41-33 loss.
Freshman Jackie Smith led with 10 points, Madison Bannister added 8, and point guard Alayna Barrera tallied all of her points at the stripe (6-6). The Lady Fliers delighted in free throws going 11-16 while Westlake managed only 2-5.
“I couldn’t be more pleased. The girls support one another very well and are quite coachable,” Coach Raifsnider said.
They share the ball well and try hard to play as a team.”
