Meadowbrook Christian girls beat Bucktail

Kailey Devlin and her game-high 28 points led the Lady Lions (13-1), who now have their sights set on the postseason after capturing their 12th straight win.

“Absolutely, we’re talking about districts,” said Meadowbrook coach Shane Devlin. “Just from the standpoint of the girls getting to that place where we win the close, tough games against good teams, and we’re really starting to turn that corner.

“So yeah, we’ve talked about building that foundation right now and sort of letting God teach us what we need to know, so when we get to the games where we’re going to need those things — we’re ready for them,” added Meadowbrook’s coach.

Despite playing without starter Madalyn Fasnacht, and with other girls playing a little banged up, Meadowbrook got off to a solid start against Bucktail (6-8).

Kailey Devlin sunk a couple of baskets to fuel a 6-2 run to end the first quarter, and then she hit a jumper to start the second period to give the Lady Lions a 14-5 lead.

Later in the quarter, a three-point play the hard way by Kailey Devlin gave Meadowbrook a 22-12 lead.

“We have a one-game week this week, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. (Bucktail) is a strong, physical team. They play hard, they come at you, and they don’t quit, and we used most of the energy we had left to push through the end of the game,” said coach Devlin.

“So, it’s a nice week for us to get healthy. We have a couple of ankle tweaks, but it’s basketball at this point of the season and some of the girls are taped together. I thought we pushed through, but I would’ve liked to see a little more energy out of us with the way we played defensively, but we did enough to get a win against a tough team.”

Meadowbrook maintained a nine-point lead though the second and third quarters, but in the fourth a 3-pointer by Alyssa Canelo, a mid-range jumper by Audrey Millett and seven points from Kailey Devlin gave the Lady Lions some much-needed breathing room to get a comfortable win.

“We’ve talked about owning the third quarter coming out of the locker room, and we’ve pretty consistently have done a good job in that third quarter — enough to give us buffer,” said coach Devin. “I’d love to see us finish a little bit better in the fourth, and not just ride that out, but I’ll take the win this week and we’ll work on (finishing better) for next week.

In addition to her 28 points, Kailey Devlin added four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Also for the Lady Lions, Canelo finished with eight points, plus Alayna Smith added 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“(Kailey) kind of knows where the game is, and she directs out there so well. It’s like having another coach out on the floor,” said coach Devlin, Kailey’s father. “At the same time we had Alayna Smith, who didn’t necessarily score, but she had 11 rebounds and eight deflections. Defensively, she’s been very active and in the last three games she’s started to play much stronger on the defensive side of things.

“Alyssa has been taking some really good shots for us this season, and in the last couple of games they’ve been starting to fall for her,” added Meadowbrook’s coach. “And that’s right where we want to be right now. If we can get one or two more people to see that ball go through the hoop, it’s going to be a good offensive output for us.”

Meadowbrook is now off until Monday when they host Grace Prep at 5:30 p.m. Following that game, the Lions have contests against Belleville Mennonite the following day before facing Juniata Christian and Lourdes Regional later in the week.

Playing teams like Bucktail and Lourdes will only bolster Meadowbrook’s chances at success when it comes to districts.

“That’s kind of why we built up our schedule that way. We want to play enough of A, 2A and 3A teams locally, so we can kind of see what’s out there and see what we’ll be playing against,” said coach Devlin. “We want to know where we are before we hit the playoffs, plus the girls need to get some confidence playing those types of teams.”

Meadowbrook Chr. 41, Bucktail 27

At Meadowbrook Christian School

Bucktail 5 8 8 6 — 27

Meadowbrook 12 10 8 11 — 41

Bucktail (6-8) 27

Alexis Lowery 2 0-0 4; Kayla Probert 2 3-5 7; Lily Francis 4 1-4 9; Dezlyn Halpate 0 0-0 0; Matti Mason 1 0-6 2; E. Sockman 0 0-1 0; B. English 0 0-0 0; K. Wagner 1 2-2 5. Totals: 10 6-12 27.

3-point goals: Wagner.

Meadowbrook (13-1) 41

Alyssa Canelo 4 0-0 8; Kailey Devlin 9 9-14 28; Emma George 1 0-2 2; Addison Nevius 0 0-0 0; Kat Bennage 0 1-2 1; Audrey Millett 1 0-0 2; Alayna Smith 0 0-0 0; Melanie Eager 0 0-0 0; Ellie Sweigard 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 10-18 41.

3-point goals: Devlin.