She launched six of them and five fell through the net. In a game where there were no big runs or giant swings of momentum, Sydney Fewell’s quintet of 3-pointers allowed the Warriors to methodically build up the lead. With William Monroe struggling with turnovers, once the Warriors went up comfortably in the second quarter, it stayed that way as they held serve at home to top the Dragons, 59-46.
“They really like to pack it in against us and try and take away our size,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “That’s what we expect most people to do to us. In order to loosen that up, we need people to hit shots. Sydney hit a bunch and Maddy Baker did too. So when your two starting wings put up 25 points combined, it makes teams pay for trying to take away the post.”
Fewell got started in the first quarter, and her shooting helped Western take the lead by five heading into the second frame, not to mention, open up the floor for the rest of her teammates.
“They were crowding down low early so I had to get ready to knock down shots,” Fewell said. “It was one of those nights. I don’t usually miss, but it was still exciting getting to help out my teammates.”
Behind Alexa Smith and Tiffany Snead, Monroe was able to get to within three points of the Warriors to start the second quarter, but Fewell’s barrage of 3-pointers put Western back out in front.
“When she hit those shots it changed a lot of what we wanted to do defensively,” said Monroe coach Phillip Lamb. “After they got that lead they just maintained it.”
With Ellen Shaffrey and Raven Ward getting rolling underneath the basket shortly thereafter, the Warriors established a 12-point gap between themselves and their visitors.
With a 10-point lead to start the second half, Western simply traded blows with Monroe with both teams applying pressure down low in the post and on second chance shots. With Warriors bench not missing a beat when it came into the game, the Dragons were unable to mount any comeback or shrink the deficit back to within single digits.
Fewell led all scorers with 17 points on five threes. Shaffrey had 12 points and a team-high six rebounds. Mady Baker and Raven Ward gave Western four different players that had eight points. Ward also had five boards and three blocks. Kelsey Swanson had a game high seven assists.
For Monroe, Smith had 10 points and six rebounds. Snead led the team in scoring with 11 points and also contributed four rebounds and two steals. Alex Cave had six points.
“We had 12 turnovers and we gave away 15 offensive rebounds,” Lamb said. “It’s hard to beat someone when you do that. We didn’t do a great job on the boards or protect the basketball and to Western’s credit, they made us pay for that.”
The Dragons host Eastern View today at 7:30 p.m.
Western travels to Charlottesville on Friday at 6 p.m.
