With two wins on Saturday, WLB Wolverines on their way to state championship game

[December 12, 2022]  The West Lincoln-Broadwell Lady Wolverines won two games on Saturday at the 8th Grade Class 1A State Tournament in Clinton. The wins advanced the Lady Wolverines to the state championship game set for Thursday night.

In the quarterfinals the Lady Wolverines eliminated Kewanee Visitation from the tournament with a 46-26 win.

In the semifinals on Saturday evening the Lady Wolverines defeated Ottawa Marquette 32-25.

Quarterfinal game

The Lady Wolverines were led by Paisley Holmes with 24 points in the quarterfinal game versus Kewanee Visitation.

WLB was quick to build a 13-3 lead after the first quarter of action. By halftime the Lady Wolverines were up 25-5.

After three quarters the Lady Wolverines were in command of the game with a 34-13 lead.

With Holmes nearly outscoring the opponent, the Lady Wolverines ended the season for Kewanee Visitation by a final score of 46-26.

Paisley Holmes led all scorers with 24 points.

Kewanee Visitation ended the season with a 17-3 record.

Semifinal game

In the semifinal game on Saturday night, WLB ran out to a 10-0 lead over Ottawa Marquette. The first quarter ended with WLB on top 10-3.

By halftime the game was a bit closer, with the Lady Wolverines still on top 15-10.

As the third quarter came to a close, WLB held a 28-15 advantage.

The Lady Wolverines went on to celebrate a 32-25 victory and now have their eyes on that state championship.
 

Paisley Holmes led all scorers with 16 points.

WLB head coach Brad Schneider spoke highly about his team following the wins, saying, “The girls played excellent defense. Our press caused a lot of turnovers. The girls executed on offense both games. We are a young team that played an extremely difficult schedule this year. I think that helped us prepare for this situation. I was extremely proud of how hard they played.”

Over the weekend, the West Lincoln-Broadwell Lady Wolverines eighth grade team came two steps closer to a Class 1A State Championship. The gals took on Kewanee Visitation in the Quarterfinal, defeating them 46-26. Then it was on to the semifinal, where they overpowered Ottawa Marquette with a final score of 32-25.

Without a doubt, this young group has a ton of talent and Schneider was quick to point out players who played key roles on Saturday, but didn’t necessarily score a lot. He mentioned Elizabeth Chen, Maci Eskra, Ella Schneider and Taylor Short as being instrumental in the wins over Kewanee and Ottawa. Sage Gilbert, Grey Gilbert, Grace Bivin and Norah Block also turned in outstanding performances on Saturday for WLB, as did leading scorer Paisley Holmes. Holmes totaled 40 points on Saturday for the Lady Wolverines.

WLB (21-6) will play Sigel St. Michael’s (23-2) for the IESA 8th Grade Class 1A State Tournament Championship on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. That game will be played at Clinton Junior High School.

Come on out and cheer on the Lady Wolverines!

Good luck, girls!

Quarterfinal scoring

WLB 46
Holmes 24
S. Gilbert 8
G. Gilbert 7
Bivin 4
Block 2
Schneider 1

Kewanee Visitation 26
Clucas 10
Campbell 4
Yepsen 4
VanDeVelde 2
Guerrero-Lopez 2
Burkhart 2
VanWinkle 2

Semifinal scoring

WLB 32
Holmes 16
S. Gilbert 9
G. Gilbert 4
Bivin 2
Block 1

Ottawa Marquette 25
Hopkins 12
Hjerpe 4
Collins 3
Ryan-Adair 2
Rick 2
Cuchra 2

[Teena Lowery with photo by Cindy Bivin]