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Trimmer leads West Branch past Ursuline
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
The West Branch Warriors reeled off the game’s first 13 points and never looked back as they defeated Ursuline, 66-31 in the season opener for both schools Saturday.
Melinda Trimmer, an early commitment to Youngstown State during the recent early signing period, scored a game-high 21 points, adding 11 assists and five rebounds to pace the Warriors. West Branch held Ursuline to single-digit scoring in three of four quarters played.
The win spoiled the return to the bench of Ursuline coach Sean Durkin, who took a two-year hiatus from the game while still serving as the school’s athletic director.
“We were a little nervous at the outset but settled down once we scored a few buckets,” Durkin said. “Everyone really worked hard in the off-season and this afternoon we just did what we do best and that is play as a team.
“We practice defense quite a bit and just stepped it up a notch today. Our pre-season scrimmages really helped prepare us for this first regular season game.”
Kaylee Manning’s four points keyed the Warriors’ opening run as West Branch raced to the early 18-4 advantage.
Six points from Pavin Heath and five more from Trimmer in the second frame then helped the Warriors build a 38-10 advantage at intermission.
West Branch coach Walt DeShields said having four returning starters made things a little easier, especially playing on the road.
“In the past, we’ve had some question marks going into the season but with four returning starters some of those questions marks were taken erased,” he said. “We had an opportunity to play our bench and that is important as you want to create depth; especially with our schedule.
“We were able to run sets offensively and set some nice screens, but more importantly we executed our opportunities and that was critical. We tell our players to measure themselves to their own standards, not against the team we are playing. We want them to always realize how they played both individually and as a team.”
A bucket by Manning at 1:51 of the third period gave West Branch a 52-17 margin, but the Fighting Irish scored the last five points of the period to pull to within 52-22 with eight minutes remaining.
Trimmer then scored the first five points of the final stanza as West Branch outscored the Fighting Irish in the frame, 14-9.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect at the outset as our kids were excited, in fact, probably too excited. We needed to slow it down in the early going but by then the game had gotten away from us,” Durkin noted. “I was disappointed in our defense; both half court and in transition so those are two areas in which we must improve. We fixed a few things in the second half but have a way to go. Being out of control offensively didn’t help.”
The Warriors canned 25 of 49 field goal attempts while limiting the Fighting Irish to just 12 fielders on 40 attempts, a mere 30 percent on the afternoon.
West Branch forced 19 Ursuline turnovers which led directly to 22 Warriors points; 14 coming in the first half of action.