Bunnell beats Lady Trojans, 59-43

eschickler@bcnnew.com

A failure to rebound and contain the outside shot cost the Weston girls basketball team on Tuesday. Host Weston allowed Bunnell many second, third and fourth chances off the glass and was torched by Lady Bulldog senior captain Taylor Kulhalwik's 3-point shooting in Bunnell's 59-43 victory. Bunnell raised its record to 8-3, 4-2 in the SWC and qualified for the Class L tournament. The Lady Trojans dropped to 7-4, 3-3.

`I really give a lot of credit to Bunnell," Weston Coach Pat Cole said. "They played an impressive game with their outside shooting, inside presence and work on the boards. They were the better team tonight."

The Lady Bulldogs outrebounded the Lady Trojans, 42-21, with their two 6-1 girls, senior captain Isenede Millfort (19 points, 11 rebounds) and sophomore Sha'quira Palmer (two points, six rebounds) ruling the glass in staking Bunnell to an 8-3 lead.

Weston shot well in the first quarter with senior captain Brittany Swanson (15 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, one blocked shot) and juniors Christina Welsh and Hannah Hutchins (three points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals) each swishing 3-pointers to give the Lady Trojans an 11-10 lead with 4:16 remaining. Overall, Weston hit four treys with Welsh connecting on her second 3-pointer in the second quarter. After this early shooting streak, the Lady Trojans became cold from the field.

"We were moving the ball well and were ready to shoot," Welsh said. "Bunnell did a good job pressing us and didn't allow open shots [the rest of the way]."

Junior Anne Guglelmoni (five points, eight assists, three steals) answered with a trifecta to give the Lady Bulldogs the lead for good, 13-11 with 3:45 left. Bunnell led 17-13 after one quarter and 22-13 with 6:45 to go in the half after Kulhalwik (21 points) hit her second of seven treys, but Weston remained within striking distance.

Welsh (eight points, one rebound, four assists, four steals, seven forced turnovers) was instrumental in cutting it to four, 22-18 with 6:02 left in the half, first by swishing a trey and then by setting up sophomore Ellie Martin's layup attempt, which drew the foul. Martin (eight points, eight rebounds, two steals) made both free throws.

The Lady Bulldogs then shut down the Lady Trojans the rest of the first half and led 29-20 at the break. Bunnell led 47-31 after three quarters and its advantage peaked at 21, 52-31. Not only did Weston have trouble grabbing the rebound in paint, it let a Lady Bulldog guard grab many offensive rebounds on the perimeter.

"Bunnell was aggressive and we didn't do a good job of loading up on the outside," Welsh said.

Welsh was the Lady Trojans' main bright spot on the night. Her tenacity was instrumental in the Lady Bulldogs committing 21 turnovers (Weston committed 22) and it was illustrated by one of her steals in which she stripped the ball away from a Bunnell player.

"Coach wanted us to stay aggressive even if we were down by a lot of points," Welsh said. "We always kept our heads up and kept playing."

Junior Dakota Sloop (five points, one rebound, one assist), senior captain Jessica Welsh (four points, two rebounds, three assists, one steal) and freshman Morgan Moubayed also contributed for the Lady Trojans.

"It was a tough game," Swanson said. "They were good and hit a lot of threes and they had a girl who couldn't miss. They were also tough down low."

Weston plays at Oxford tomorrow at 4 p.m. in a game it's expected to win and host Masuk on Tuesday in a game that could go either way.

"We have to play better against Masuk than we did tonight [against Bunnell]," Christina Welsh said.

Cole said, "Masuk Coach Dave Strong likes to play junk defenses and we'll work on getting by it. He's a Hall of Fame coach for a reason."