Kirtland jumped out to a double-digit halftime lead then held off a second half surge from visiting Berkshire in a 45-36 win in the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division opener for both teams.
The Hornets led 32-14 at halftime before being outscored in the second half, 22-13.
“Berkshire played very well,” said Kirtland coach Bob Bell. “They came out and played a very stubborn zone defense and mixed it up a little bit with some man-to-man. They’ve got some really nice players.”
Sydney Snyder scored 15 of her game-high 22 points in the first half to pace the Hornets. Her second 3-pointer in the first quarter pushed her past the 1,000-point milestone.
“It has been a goal of mine ever since my freshman year to reach 1,000 points and when I reached it tonight I just looked at my sister Lauren and she had the biggest smile on her face,” Snyder said. “It was made possible by the help of my teammates and coaches. I wouldn’t be able to achieve it without them. I am so thankful for them and all of their hard work.”
Lauren Snyder finished with eight points, Jenna Sayle contributed with six and Katie McCollister scored four for the Hornets. Lauren Lutz and Amber Yurick pitched in with three and two, respectively.
Most of those points came in the first half.
“The game comes down to shooting the ball and we didn’t shoot well in the second half,” Bell said. “We had more turnovers in the second half as well. They were careless turnovers, but it happens. We had a few and they didn’t come at good times.”
Those turnovers helped Berkshire climb back into the game.
The Badgers outscored the Hornets, 9-5, in the third to pull to within 37-23.
Kayla White scored 11 of her team-high 18 points in the second half and Rachel Breckenridge finished with 17. She scored 11 in the final 16 minutes of the game.
Madison Chapman was the only other Badger to score. She finished with one point.
The Hornets hurt themselves at the free throw line, where they converted just 6-of-16 tries.
“That was our worst shooting from the line this year,” Bell said. “We need to improve that. I don’t know if we were a little tired from playing Monday if we were mentally off a little bit. I have to give a lot to credit to Berkshire. They played really well and played really hard.”
Kirtland improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the CVC while Berkshire fell to 3-1, 0-1.
