When Wilson junior point guard and two-time All-Berks selection Laila Jones went down with a season-ending knee injury during the AAU season, it signaled an urgent need for production in scoring, ball handling, and on-ball defense for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs, coming off a 24-5 season, found that production Tuesday night in sophomores Ryan Leaman and Kailani Hardy en route to a 64-32 non-league victory over McCaskey in Lancaster.
"Obviously it's a big adjustment," Leaman said. "Laila was a big part of the team last year. We just have to figure it out and adjust as a new team."
The 5-6 sophomore guard provided the spark for the Bulldogs (1-1), who were coming off a narrow loss to Emmaus Saturday, after a sluggish first quarter left them with a 10-5 lead over the Red Tornado (0-1).
Leaman entered the game and scored twice on steal-and-scores, forcing McCaskey head coach Brian McCloud to use a timeout with 6:31 left in the second quarter with the Red Tornado trailing 14-6.
Roughly a minute later, Leaman drilled a 3 to push the Bulldogs' lead to 19-6. She scored nine of her 11 points, swiped two steals, and assisted on a Janai Tisdale 3 in the quarter. McCaskey never recovered.
"Ryan definitely helped us get started," Wilson head coach Matt Raquet said. "She hit a nice 3-point shot there and that helped a lot. We had some good looks early and were playing well on the defensive end. We were getting out in transition but not finishing layups or getting offensive boards and not executing on the putback."
The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 21 points by the end of the third quarter as Leaman's fellow sophomore Kailani Hardy got involved in the scoring.
Hardy scored 10 of her game-high 14 points in the third quarter before she took a hard fall to the court at the 2:35 mark and did not return. The wing dropped a career-high 25 points in the season-opening loss to Emmaus and appears ready to shoulder a large scoring load this season with an offensive game that is effective at all three levels.
"They're going to be a big piece of what we do," Raquet said of his sophomores. "Ryan is going to keep getting better at that primary ball handler position. She's done a great job of that so far. Kailani is going to impact games no matter what so we'll find ways to get her some easier touches."
Wilson further extended its lead in the fourth quarter behind freshman Jade Lee's 7 points.
Johanna Mills led McCaskey with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Wilson | 10 | 16 | 21 | 17 | 64 |
McCaskey | 5 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 32 |
Bulldogs (1-1) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Houck | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 4 |
Tisdale | 2-6 | 2-4 | 1-4 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
Leaman | 5-9 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
Crocona | 4-14 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
Williams | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
Hardy | 5-13 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
Peacock | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Waibel | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Robinson | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Trapp | 2-3 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Lee | 2-3 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
Taylor | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Ciabattoni | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Santiago | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Totals | 24-58 | 11-20 | 5-14 | 11 | 64 |
Red Tornado (0-1) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Alston | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Augustus | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Myers | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
McDowell | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Sweeney | 1-5 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
Hinton | 2-5 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Cruz | 0-4 | 2-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
G. Rivera | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Holmes | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Kellam | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Medina | 2-9 | 1-2 | 1-5 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
Mills | 2-14 | 6-10 | 0-3 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
Totals | 8-42 | 15-29 | 1-11 | 1 | 24/33 | 32 |
Turnovers: McCaskey 22, Wilson 19. Team rebounds: McCaskey 9, Wilson 4.
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