WADSWORTH: Twinsburg senior Jasmine Bishop played the role of starter and closer Wednesday night at Wadsworth.
Bishop made her biggest contributions in the first quarter and the fourth quarter, guiding the Tigers to a 45-40 victory over the Grizzlies.
Bishop, a 5-foot-10 guard, totaled 21 points, nine rebounds and two steals for Twinsburg (4-1, 4-0 Suburban League National Conference). She scored seven of Twinsburg’s nine points in the first quarter and 11 of the Tigers’ 14 points in the fourth quarter.
“Throughout the game, we are going to make mistakes, but it is about capitalizing when you get the opportunity to score and just keep playing through those mistakes,” Bishop said. “Sometimes mistakes can break momentum, but we all played through that until the end of the game when the final buzzer went off. We played very hard tonight as a team.”
Senior Shaundrea Butler scored 11 points and had six steals for Twinsburg, which led 20-16 at halftime and 31-26 through three quarters.
“We played pretty good defense but, honestly, from the free-throw line, we were awful,” Twinsburg coach Julie Solis said. “We have got to get better on that in order to win these kinds of games and separate the margin for the win. It is early, and that is something in general that we can improve on.
“I am happy with the way the girls executed on offense, their patience and our defensive effort.”
Twinsburg also received solid efforts from seniors Dasja Anderson (five points, seven rebounds) and Jailyn Reid (four points, five assists), sophomore Nya Bussey (two points) and freshman Alana Ellis (two points) to beat the defending Division I state champion.
Twinsburg opened its season with a loss to Newark and has followed that up with wins over Brecksville, Stow, North Royalton and Wadsworth.
“We play hard at practice and we make sure we run the plays right,” said Butler, a 5-4 guard who made three 3-pointers in the third quarter. “We get all that done and then when it is game time, we are ready to play all four quarters.”
Junior Peyton Banks, a 5-10 wing, paced Wadsworth (2-3, 2-2) with 23 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Freshmen E’Anna Won (seven points) and Taylor Leatherman (five points), sophomore Kacie Evans (three points, 10 rebounds) and junior Maddie Movsesian (two points, five assists) also logged considerable minutes for the Grizzlies.
Wadsworth played its fifth game of the season without junior guard Sophia Fortner and its first game without junior center Lexi Lance. Both players are University of Toledo recruits. Fortner is out for the season with a knee injury, and Lance is also dealing with a knee injury that potentially could cause her to miss an extended period of time.
“That was as hard as we have competed all year,” Wadsworth coach Andrew Booth said. “I am very proud of that effort and we told the girls that we are proud of it, and that the bar has been set. Now we know how hard they can compete. Against a team like Twinsburg, as hard as they play, you better come to compete and I thought we did that.
“The bottom line is that we are not at the stage that we can make that many mistakes both physically and mentally and win a game like that. It came down to little things, really.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.