Edgewood took over sole possession of first place in the Chagrin Valley Conference Lake Division with a 61-53 win over visiting Madison in a battle of unbeaten teams on Friday.
The Warriors took a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter and held off the Blue Streaks down the stretch in improving to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in league play. Madison dropped to 10-1, 5-1.
“That was a great feeling,” said Edgewood coach Randy Vencill of pulling out the win in such a big game. “The girls worked hard all week preparing and to see the fruits of their labor in the result was great to see.”
Madison has one of the best one-two punches in Northeast Ohio in Claire Wakim and Zoe Deligianis, who combined for 33 of Madison’s points, but the Warriors used their depth to outduel the Blue Streaks.
Faith Vencill led Edgewood with 14 points and Katie McCollister and Annie Johnston also scored in double figures with 12 points each.
“We were balanced,” Coach Vencill said. “When you get scoring from all kinds of different places, they can’t key in on just one girl. It was a total team effort on the offensive end.”
Avery Vencill contributed to the win with nine points, McKenna Vencill added seven, Leigha Guyton scored four, and Carly Kray finished with three points in the victory.
McCollister put together a big fourth quarter as she scored six points and Johnston hit a big three in the frame. Guyton also hit a pair of free throws to ice the win.
The Warriors’ defense did the rest.
“We did a really good job of getting some pressure on them and getting some turnovers, and then turning those turnovers into points,” Coach Vencill said. “We did a good job on the boards, which isn’t usually our cup of tea, but tonight, we did a great job. We also did a great job on their best players. Great players are going to get their points, but the girls we had on them did a great job.”
Wakim led the Blue Streaks with 19 points while Deligianis scored 14. Ella Hall and Alyssa Snider both scored four points and Sydney Sorber and Kendra Smith each dropped in four points.
With the win, the Warriors moved into sole possession of first place in the Lake Division with a 6-0 mark. The Blue Streaks aren’t out of the title hunt yet as they’ll host the Warriors on Feb. 7.
“With both teams being undefeated, that put a lot of extra weight on this game,” Coach Vencill said. “We’ll enjoy the win tonight and whenever we win, we get the next day off and that’s a nice incentive, so we’ll come back on Monday and start game-planning for the next game, which is at Conneaut, and then just take it one game at a time. I’m sure Madison will be ready for us at their place.”
Edgewood travels to Conneaut on Jan. 10 while Madison hosts Harvey.
