Lady Jackets Roll Over Salem International

By Josh Burris

The Lady Jackets cruised to a 108-62 lead over Salem International on Thursday night. Cedarville (17-10, 8-5 G-MAC) had a season high in points, a season-high in assists with 30, and also hit 12 3-pointers.

Regina Hochstetler lead the way in points with 24. She also had five rebounds and six assists. Baylee Bennett had 18 points and eight assists. Emily Williams added 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Hochstetler said it was great seeing the whole team contribute.

“I thought it was a really fun game to play,” Hochstetler said. “I think everyone had a lot of fun. Everyone got to contribute and hit shots. We were really excited for each other.”

Head coach Kari Hoffman said she liked the way her team shared the ball.

“30 assists is awesome,” Hoffman said. “That’s an incredible number. I’m really proud of them that they shared the ball the way they did.”

Breanne Watterworth got the Lady Jackets started with the first basket of the game. After a 5-5 tie, Cedarville went on a 9-0 run to take a 14-5 lead. Hochstetler hit a 3-pointer later on to make the lead 19-7. A Cedarville free throw and a Salam 3-pointer made the score 20-12 Cedarville at the end of the first.

Watterworth got the Lady Jackets started again in the second quarter with the first basket. She hit another shot later on to give her team a 26-15 lead and regained a double-figure lead.

Salem International fought hard over the next few minutes to make it a one-score game. They cut Cedarville’s lead to 26-24 with 5:42 left to play in the quarter.

Cedarville got back in the swing of things after that. Watterworth and Bennett made back-to-back layups. Bennett also converted on her free throw attempt after being fouled to increase the lead to 31-24.

The lead continued to grow to 41-26 after a Cameron Peek 3-pointer and layups and free throws from both Williams and Bennett.

Salem International made the final basket of the half to go into halftime down 46-33. Hochstetler lead the Lady Jackets in scoring for the first half with 12 points. Watterworth was second with 10.

Bennett began the second half with a 3-pointer. Then Hochstetler hit back-to-back layups to give the Lady Jackets a 20-point lead at 53-33. They continued that run all the way to 14-0 to start the third quarter and held a 60-33 lead.

The lead got extended to 30 at the 5:15 mark after Bennett hit another 3-pointer. The Lady Jackets continued to roll until the end of the quarter and lead 78-40.

Cedarville kept up its pace in the fourth quarter. Hochstetler increased the lead to 41 with a 3-pointer to start the quarter. The team eventually reached the 100 mark on an Ellie Juengel 3-pointer with 2:37 left to make the score 100-56. Anna DeFilippo hit a 3-pointer for the final shot of the game to make the final score 108-62.

The Lady Jackets final regular season game will be at home against Ohio Valley on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

Josh Burris is a senior journalism major and the sports editor for Cedars. He is interested in sports broadcasting and reporting. He enjoys watching sports, lifting, and listening to rock and rap music.