Kirtland’s offense was held in check for most of Wednesday’s 31-22 win at Chagrin Falls. Fortunately, the Hornets are equally as capable on the defensive end.
The Hornets, who improved to 10-0 on the year, opened the game with a 16-point first quarter than managed to scored just 15 points in the next three. The defense didn’t allow more than eight points in any single quarter.
“Offensively we had some struggles,” said Kirtland senior Sydney Snyder, who led all scorers with 17 points. “We weren’t getting anything to flow the way we wanted it to, but we fought through that and came out and made shots when we could and our defense like always was a major contributor to the win tonight.”
The Division III Hornets now have seven wins over Division I or Division II programs.
“Getting wins over bigger schools is what we work for,” Snyder said. “We know it will help us later come tournament time, so we can get seeded where we want to.”
Snyder and her sister, Lauren Snyder, combined to score all 16 of the Hornets’ first quarter points.
The Hornets scored just four in the second quarter and 11 in the second half.
“During the second half, we couldn’t finish the way that we are used to,” Sydney Snyder said. “We had some really nice looks but couldn’t get anything to fall. We were able to get through that and we knew we had to keep playing hard to come out with the win tonight.”
Lauren Snyder finished with nine points, Jenna Sayle contributed with four and Katie McCollister added one for the Hornets.
Kirtland travels to Independence on Saturday in a key league matchup. The Blue Devils are 6-3 overall and 2-1 in Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division games.
Kirtland 31, Chagrin Falls 22
Kirtland (7-0, 3-0): S. Snyder 17, L. Snyder 9, Sayle 4, McCollister 1
Chagrin Falls (3-7, 2-2): Bencko 7, Karyo 7, Kwasny 4, Miralia 2, Dalessandro 2
Kirtland 16 4 6 5 — 31
Chagrin Falls 3 4 7 8 — 22
Free throws: Kirtland 5 of 8, Chagrin 10 of 16; 3-pointers: Kirtland 2 (S. Snyder, L. Snyder), Chagrin 0; Rebounds: Kirtland 21 (Lutz 6), Chagrin 21 (Kwasny, Dalessandro 5; Assists: Kirtland 2 (McCollister, Sayle), Chagrin 0
