Cedarville Closes Non-Conference Play With Romping of Wilberforce

by Tim Miller

The Cedarville Lady Jackets (5-1) continued their dominance of the Wilberforce Bulldogs, defeating Wilberforce 84-43 on Thursday night. The Lady Jackets have taken 43 of the 45 all time matchups between the two schools.

Junior guard Regina Hochstetler led the team in scoring for the fifth game this season, piling in 16 points on 7-15 shooting. Hochstetler was delighted with the high-quality brand of team basketball played tonight.

“I thought it was a really great win for us,” Hochstetler said. “We had 24 assists and it was good to have a really big double-digit win going into conference play.”

Junior guard Baylee Bennett added 14 points and was 4-6 from deep. Senior forward Breanne Watterworth was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Wilberforce stayed with Cedarville early and led 7-6 with 5:26 left in the first quarter. Hochstetler sank a three and freshman guard Ashlyn Huffman followed by converting a steal into a made mid-range jumper to put Cedarville up 11-7. Wilberforce called a timeout after Huffman’s shot.

After the timeout, Hochstetler made another 3-pointer and senior forward Taylor Buckley added a deep two to put Cedarville up 16-7. On the next offensive possession, Hochstetler pulled down a rebound and made a jumper to give the Lady Jackets an 18-7 lead with 3:14 left.

The Lady Jackets continued to dominate the final minutes of the quarter which culminated in an 18-2 run. Cedarville closed the quarter with a 24-9 advantage and Hochstetler finished with 10 points. Watterworth grabbed five rebounds in the opening quarter. As a team, Cedarville forced the Bulldogs to shoot just 24 percent from the field (4-17).

Wilberforce shot 3-5 to open the second, allowing the Bulldogs to inch closer to the Lady Jackets. With 5:24 left, Cedarville led 31-18 and called its first timeout of the game.

Cedarville jumped out of the timeout to double up Wilberforce. Bennett banked in a jumper to give the Lady Jackets a 36-18 lead with 4:16 on the clock.

The Lady Jackets continued to dominate to melt away the quarter and went into halftime owning a 43-20 margin. Cedarville finished the half shooting 55 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the 3-point line. Hochstetler and Bennett led the way with 12 and 11 points respectively, with eight of Bennett’s points coming in the second quarter alone.

Cedarville scored the first eight points of the third quarter to go up 51-20. The Bulldogs made a free throw with 6:35 left to get on the board for the first time of the third and Cedarville led 51-21.

Watterworth pulled down an offensive rebound and put it pack up for two, giving Cedarville a 56-21 lead with 4:55 left. The shot capped off Cedarville’s 13-1 run to start the third.

By the 2:46 mark, every player that dressed for the Lady Jackets had made her way into the game.

The Lady Jackets closed the quarter with freshman guard Stevie Johnting banking in a triple at the buzzer. Cedarville led 68-30 after three periods.

Cedarville filtered in their reserves early in the fourth quarter and maintained its grip on the game. Of the reserves, freshman guard Stevie Johnting scored 12 points and was 4-5 from behind the 3-point line, Buckley added 11 points with seven rebounds and was 5-5 from the field and freshman guard Annabelle Hinds chalked up four steals.

“I’m pleased with our bench,” head coach Kari Hoffman said. “They were just as good as our starters in maintaining our lead and taking care of the basketball.”

The Lady Jackets continue their five-game stretch of home games next Thursday against Trevecca Nazarene. Cedarville swiped both games from Trevecca last season.

Tim Miller is a sophomore marketing major and sports editor for Cedars. He enjoys having a baby face, sipping Dunkin Donuts coffee and striving to be the optimal combination of Dwight Schrute and Ron Swanson.