July 30, 2022
By Morgan Wenger
Tournament Director

The Junior Girls division featured many very competitive games from start to finish. Details was ready to play from the start, as they defeated a very good Waynedale team 14-8 and followed that up with a 12-9 win over the Lady Hoopers to vault them into the top seed for bracket play. Emmersyn Lehman and Casey Miller each pumped in six points in the win against Waynedale, and Lehman followed that up with another six points to lead the way against the Lady Hoopers.

The most competitive games of the division took place between the Lady Hoopers and Waynedale. Waynedale prevailed 22-20 in their pool play game against the Lady Hoopers on the strength of Jillian Johnson’s 12 points. Johnson continually bulled her way inside for layups and clogged the middle defensively against the Lady Hooper’s talented duo of Callihan Spreng (10 points) and Neia Kay (8 points).

Waynedale's Rebecca Wickens battles Neia Kay of the Lady Hoopers

The pool play game between Waynedale and the Lady Hoopers was just a foreshadowing of their semifinal game in bracket play. Callihan Spreng (8 points) used her quickness and ball handling ability to get into the lane and make plays while Neia Kay (6 points) connected on two three pointers to give the Lady Hoopers a 16-12 lead with under two minutes to play.  Jillian Johnson had been held in check up until this point as the Lady Hoopers were surrounding her and making life difficult in the paint. Johnson found her way inside for a basket to trim the deficit to two with under a minute to play. Waynedale regained possession of the ball with under 15 seconds remaining. With the clock ticking down, Johnson drove to the basket and was fouled on the shot. This gave her a free throw to tie the game and send it into a sudden death overtime period. Johnson’s free throw bounced on the rim four different times before falling through to send her teammates into a frenzy and send the game into overtime. With all of the momentum on their side, Waynedale quickly went to Johnson for the game winning basket to clinch a berth in the championship game. Jillian Johnson finished the game with 12 points.

After scratching out their first two wins in pool play, Details had an easier route to the championship game as they comfortably defeated the Bobcats in pool play and in bracket play. Jillian Johnson put Details behind for the first time all day with her play to start the championship game. Johnson was as impressive on defense as she was on offense, getting steals and rebounds and then converting inside on several occasions. Waynedale built a big advantage early, but Details fought back behind the stellar play of Aubrey Maibach. Maibach used her quickness to attack the basket and finish inside and at the free throw line. Maibach kept Details within striking distance, but Rebecca Wickens stepped up and gave Waynedale the boost they needed to claim the division title with a 24-16 win. Johnson ended the final game with 12 points while Wickens chipped in eight. Aubrey Maibach scored 12 in a losing effort for Details.

Waynedale (Jillian Johnson, Autumn Hochstetler, Rebecca Wickens, and Izzy Matter)

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