Girls basketball: Columbia jumps on Wellington from the start, cruises to win

COLUMBIA STATION — An early battle of unbeaten teams in the Lorain County League turned into a one-sided affair Wednesday night. Opening the game on a 20-5 tear will tend to do that and Columbia rode that dominant start to a 60-37 win over Wellington. "You can't ask for much better than that," Raiders coach Corey Taylor said after his team improved to 4-0, 2-0 in the LCL. "I was really excited about this matchup. We haven't played a ton of size yet and, as you can see, we're undersized out there. "They (Dukes) have two post players who are really solid. I think we did a really good job of getting to the basket in the first half." The Raiders' lead was just 6-4 after Wellington's Gabby Miller hit a pair of free throws with 4:45 left in the first quarter. But the Dukes (2-1, 1-1) wouldn't score again until Savannah Gundert hit a free throw with 26 seconds left to end a 14-0 run for the Raiders. The Raiders got scoring from four players in the run with Kaitlyn Miller hitting a free throw, Sadie Schulke scoring three, Bree Heidecker coming off the bench for four and Elise Champagne scoring six of her 12. "In practice all week, the emphasis was playing big, since they have a height advantage," Champagne said of the Dukes. "Bree did a great job playing physical, Delaney Friscone doesn't have the height but is super strong, and everyone else helped on the backside." After the first quarter, Dukes coach Nathan Morris could be heard telling his team it needed to "hit some shots." after going 1-for-11 (9 percent) from the floor. Wellington didn't get many opportunities to shoot in the second quarter against Columbia's 1-3-1 trap as the Dukes turned the ball over 10 times. The Raiders stretched their lead to 30-13 at the half with the final points coming on a Rachel Washburn layup off a steal. The Dukes were finally able to use their height, scoring six straight points in the paint to cut the lead to 30-19. Taylor Morris finished with a game-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Dukes, who wouldn't get any closer. Columbia finished the period on a 13-5 run with Rachel Washburn scoring five, including a 3-pointer. "It was really fast," Washburn, who finished with a team-high 14 points, said of the Raiders' run. "We kind of just took a step back, started moving the ball and after doing that a few times, we got our momentum and points back up." For Wellington coach Morris, the game was all about the first eight minutes. "Our start was very slow, obviously," he said. "I think we were down 15 at the end of the first quarter and to a good team like this you can't do that. I thought in the second half, our energy and just playing the game was a little better, but we had just dug ourselves such a big hole." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Columbia 60, Wellington 37 WELLINGTON (37): Hope Dudziak 1-0-2, Taylor Morris 6-3-19, Savannah Gundert 0-1-1, Gabby Miller 1-3-5, Jill Stannard 0-0-0, Brooke Lehmkule 3-0-6, Mallory Pickering 0-0-0, Nadia Greer 1-0-2, Lily Oswald 0-0-0, Grace Knapp 1-0-2. Totals 13-7-37. COLUMBIA (60): Elise Champagne 5-2-12, Taylor Kuhrt 0-0-0, Callie Demagall 0-0-0, Rachel Washburn 5-1-14, Kaitlyn Miller 3-1-7, Delaney Friscone 2-0-4, Payton Menge 1-0-3, Sadie Schulke 4-1-9, Olivia Meier 0-0-0, Cami Shackelton 0-0-0, Bree Heidecker 5-1-11. Totals 25-6-60. Wellington&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp; 8&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;37Columbia&emsp;&emsp;20&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;60 Three-point goals: Wellington 4-14 (29 percent, Morris 4), Columbia 4-16 (25 percent, Washburn 3, Menge). Field goals: Wellington 13-42 (31 percent); Columbia 25-60 (42 percent). Free throws: Wellington 7-10 (70 percent); Columbia 6-14 (43 percent). Rebounds: Wellington 31, Columbia 37. Turnovers: Wellington 22, Columbia 11.Junior varsity: Columbia, 46-16