By Bill Bray
TOLEDO – Toledo Whitmer’s Sydney Borer had her shovel out in the first half and dug Ross into a hole that they could not quite get out of to take a TRAC loss, 49-46. It left the Lady Giants 6-2 in conference play.
The first quarter was simply the fact that the Giants shots were not going in while the Panthers were hot on the offensive end. The score was indictive of that at the end of one Whitmer held a 21-12 lead.
Fremont dug their hole even deeper in the second eight minutes. Though the shooting cooled for Whitmer, the Lady Giant were still playing tight and came away with only six points in the period. Whitmer could only muster nine against the always tough Fremont defense but the score at the half had the Panthers in front 30-18.
Whitmer’s Borer helped to dig the Ross hole as the junior poured in 18 first half points including a buzzer beater to end the first quarter. “That was the real story of the game,” a disappointed coach Juan Vela said. “Our girls meanwhile played tight and just didn’t perform the way we can. But I do give our girls a lot of credit for not quitting and tying the game up toward the end.”
The second half, the Giants showed there is no quit in them as they began fighting back in the third quarter. Janiah Holmes score eight points, Carma Johnson had seven including a three-point goal. The Lady Giants were back to a five-point deficit at 40-35 as the third quarter ended.
It proved to be too deep a hole as Ross won the second half 28-19. But the terrific effort fell just short as Whitmer went on with the TRAC victory.
“All the attention was on Central Catholic,” Vela continued. “I thought we did a good job of trying to keep them humble and the girls never really talked about it. But I think with the community and everyone talking about it, there is a lot of buzz and people are excited, but this is just part of the game, and we somehow must get over this.”
The Giants were led by Johnson who finished with 16 points. 11 of those points came in the second half. Destiny Robinson hit for 12 points and Holmes ended the night with 10. Lyndi Wolf got some buckets early and ended with eight points.
So now the attention turns to hosting Central Catholic. Ross lost a tough 62-58 contest earlier this season at the home of the Irish. Now the Irish are set to invade the “Purple Pit” in hopes of cementing a TRAC championship Monday evening. With the loss, Ross is now out of the running for a championship, but it would still be a huge win for Juan Vela and his Lady Giants. Let’s pack the Pit and come out and support our talented bunch of Giants.
