Girls Basketball: First Baptist starts fast, cruises past Black River

ELYRIA — First Baptist got off to a strong start Thursday and rolled to a 42-18 non-league win over Black River. Key to the fast start was the play of guard Kate Burman (14 points, seven assists, three rebounds, five steals, four blocks) in a stat sheet-stuffing effort. "That is actually the best we have ever moved the ball offensively," Burman said. "We were really patient and we weren't too worried about how physical they were going to be. We just took our time and I feel like it was the most patient we were all season." Burman assisted on three of the first four baskets for the Sabres (5-3) during an 8-0 run to start the game and finished the first quarter with six points, four assists and three steals. Pirates guard Morgan Kubitz (nine points, six rebounds, two assists) halted the run with a pair of free throws with 5:10 remaining in the first. The Sabres shut out the Pirates (5-11), who were coming off a rugged matchup with Lorain County League co-leader Firelands the night before, in the second quarter and entered the break ahead 22-9. "I think you could see that we were kind of slow," Kubitz said. "The game yesterday probably had something to do with that. It was a very fast-paced, high-intensity game." A 14-0 run that spanned the entire second quarter and continued until 3:17 left in the third helped the Sabres lead hit 29-8 before another pair of free throws from Kubitz. Kubitz had all five of her team's points in the third quarter and eight of its 14 through three quarters. Outside of post Anya Koberna, the Pirates struggled on the glass and lost the rebounding battle 42-30. "I think we played really well against Firelands," Koberna said. "We were just slow today and we weren't passing the ball the way we normally do." Koberna finished with 14 rebounds for game-high honors. Kara Gravely (six points, 10 rebounds, four assists), Jo Wacker (10 points, nine rebounds, two steals) and reserve Brynn White (three points, nine rebounds) helped the Sabres control the boards. "That was really big," Burman said. "Especially with some of our bigger post players out tonight. It was important that we were able to box out and get those rebounds." The offensive rebounding effort — 16 for First Baptist — and 22 forced turnovers allowed the Sabres to launch 69 shots, 17 more than the Pirates. Black River went scoreless over the last five minutes as the Sabres lead hit its high-water mark with consecutive threes from White and Wacker. "We just stayed in our heads and played well as a team," Wacker said. "We had some people out and sick. We just worked the ball really well." The Pirates' only make from distance came off the right hand of Hailee Moskal late in the first quarter, as the rest of the team combined to go 0-of-14 on 3-pointers. Elyria First Baptist 42, Black River 18 Black River (18): Livy Fralick 0-0-0, Abby Kiser 1-0-2, Anya Koberna 1-0-2, Morgan Kubitz 2-5-9, Hailee Moskal 1-0-3, Heidi Clark 1-0-2, Grace Racut 0-0-0, Kadence Cassidy 0-0-0, Shelby Davis 0-0-0, Rylee Howard 0-0-0, Caroline Maat 0-0-0. Totals 6-5-18. First Baptist (42): Meghan Hennessey 0-0-0, Kara Gravely 3-0-6, Katelyn Anderson 2-0-4, Jo Wacker 4-1-10, Kate Gurman 6-0-14, Mia Cartagena 0-0-0, Brynn White 1-0-3, Leah Quick 0-0-0, Evelyn Fisher 2-0-5, Molly Laub 0-0-0. Totals 18-1-42. Black River&emsp;9&emsp;0&emsp;5&emsp;4&emsp;—&emsp;18 First Baptist&emsp;16&emsp;6&emsp;12&emsp;8&emsp;—&emsp;42 Three-point goals: Moskal, Burman 2, Fisher, Wacker, White. Rebounds: Black River 30 (Koberna 14), First Baptist 42 (Gravely 10). Assists: Black River 3 (Kubitz 2), First Baptist 13 (Burman 7). Junior varsity: Black River, 19-13.