FLYING START

By DAN HINER

dhiner@vindy.com

Lowellville

Western Reserve girls basketball coach Steve Miller and Dani Vuletich are pretty familiar with each other.

Vuletich played for Miller when she was younger, and when she transferred from South Range to Western Reserve, she knew what to expect from her new coach.

Vuletich took control and led the Blue Devils to a 62-12 win over Lowellville on Monday for Western Reserve’s fifth straight win to open the season.

The sophomore scored 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots. She was the only player to scored double-digit points for either team.

“I was feeling good about myself,” Vuletich said. “I just tried to go out there and play the best that I could.”

Miller knew coming into the season that Vuletich would be the primary option on offense and would provide a post defender on the other end of the court.

“Pretty much offensively, things are going to go through [Vuletich],” Miller said. “Our girls kind of understand that. She finishes and scores the ball very well from down inside.”

Vuletich shot 12 of 14 from the field on a night where the Blue Devils needed consistency offensively. The rest of the team shot 16 of 58 (27.5 percent) from the field and 2 of 26 from long range.

Laura Sigworth and Alyssa Serensky each finished with nine points for the Blue Devils.

“We shoot the ball pretty well and we couldn’t throw it in the ocean,” Miller said. “That allowed Dani the other girls to get some offensive rebounds and second shots.”

Western Reserve held Lowellville to 4 of 25 from the field and 1 of 11 from behind the 3-point line. The Blue Devils also forced 29 turnovers, including 17 steals.

Western Reserve started the game on a 19-2 run and put the game out of reach early in the first quarter.

The Blue Devils (5-0, 3-0 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference) led 36-9 at halftime. After a scoreless third quarter, the Rockets only managed a free throw by Marah Bellis and a layup by Sam Kelly in the fourth quarter.

“When we went on the run, we just tried to bury the competition in the first few minutes and keep it going from there so they can’t come back,” Vuletich said.

Kelly led the Rockets (2-3, 1-2 MVAC) with five points and six rebounds.

“We expected that,” Lowellville head coach Lisa Modelski said. “We knew the matchup was going to be difficult with Vuletich inside. We knew what they had coming back, and adding her to the mix only makes matters worse.

“We tried to pick our poison — guard her verses giving up 3s. We were a little lucky they were a little off on the 3, but she still did her damage inside.”

Vuletich played last season at South Range before transferring to Western Reserve prior to the start of the school year.

“We’ve always been looking to move to a new house,” Vuletich said. “We were getting a little tired of our old house and it’s way closer to where my dad works, too, because he travels.”

The Blue Devils forward played three years under Miller for the Cobras, a collection of local girls basketball players, when she was in sixth grade.

“I can’t wait for the next three years,” Vuletich said. “I can tell it’s going to be very fun three years with [Miller] and we’re gonna accomplish so much.”