By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Mogadore’s 55-49 victory on Monday at home over Manchester was exactly what head coach Jen Ritch has been looking for this season.

“It was the first game where I felt all eight players who I played were on the same page about what they needed to do to get the job done, and the point differential in the fourth quarter (24-14 in favor of the Wildcats) shows that,” Ritch said of her team that improved to 3-2 on the season. “Manchester started pressing us that quarter, and we’re pretty good at breaking the press, so a lot of our shots were layups. They turned the ball over a lot more than we did, so that gave us opportunities to run. We’re a much better team when we can score in transition.”

Leading the way were junior point guard Kasey Bolyard, who scored 18 points to go with six assists, three steals and a rebound.

“The second half, Kasey was extremely good,” said the coach. “She got to the rack and made people guard her so that other people became available. She’s a game changer, she’s extremely fast, she has good ball-handling skills, she’s a pure shooter. She’s only going to get better. The sky’s the limit for her.”

Senior shooting guard Rylee Clark scored 14 points and had six rebounds and two assists, while junior small forward Hayli Clester contributed nine points, five boards, four steals and three assists.

Senior center Eden Cameron doesn’t typically fill up the stats sheet, but she is Mogadore’s best post defender.

“Eden was our best defensive player all night against Manchester,” Ritch said. “She doesn’t get a ton of recognition, but she’s a heck of a defensive player. She’s our glue, our senior leader. She does all the dirty work, she stops the opponent’s best scorer from playing in the paint and she gets rebounds. She can score anytime she wants, but she’s just extremely unselfish. She by far has the highest basketball IQ on the floor. She usually has more assists than points, which, for a 5, is kind of crazy. She’s extremely versatile, too. I can play her anywhere from 1 to 5.”

Two days earlier, on Dec. 6 also at home, Mogadore fell 50-40 to Wooster Triway.

“Triway shot 75 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range in the first quarter (en route to a 24-9 advantage), so that was a rough go,” said Ritch. “It took us way too long to adjust defensively to their shooters. It’s a learning curve. I expected them to be competitive. They’re talented. They have five seniors starting, so we knew what we were going up against, but I didn’t expect them to come out shooting 50 percent from three-point range. We were kind of shell-shocked by that first quarter.”

The home team didn’t quit, but it was too big of a hole from which to climb out.

“All of the kids played really hard, especially after the first quarter,” said the coach. “They all kind of adapted and tried to fight back. No matter what happens, they always fight back. They will leave every ounce of blood, sweat and tears on the floor. It seems to take us a quarter to figure out what’s going on. We’re young and we’re just learning. Unfortunately, we are visual and hands-on learners. I can’t just tell the players, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this, and this is going to work.’ They have to see it to figure it out. So we’re going to take our lumps a little bit every once in a while, but as long as they fight back, I’m okay with it.”

Bolyard had 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals; sophomore forward/guard Jessica Holler hung up 11 points; and 10 rebounds; and Clark contributed 11 points and two rebounds.

“Kasey will literally try to put the team on her back as much as she can. She’s leading us in scoring and assists, so that should tell you she’s not selfish,” Ritch said. “Jess is averaging 10 rebounds a game. She’s averaging a double-double. She’s very athletic, she has a nose for the ball, she can jump out of the gym, she’s really good at finishing at the rim and she’s a pretty decent foul shooter. Rylee has been great. She’s our most consistent outside threat. She’s good for two to three threes a game as well as other mid-range shots, and she’s not afraid to take it to the rack either, so you have to guard her.”