West Clermont’s Marissa Jenike attempts to drive to the basket while being closely guarded by Milford’s Carly Stinson.

West Clermont’s Marissa Jenike attempts to drive to the basket while being closely guarded by Milford’s Carly Stinson.

Clermont County’s two Eastern Cincinnati Conference girls basketball teams met again on the hardwood Saturday, November 28, and yet again the contest was a classic.

Marissa Jenike’s 35 points paced the Lady Wolves to a 56-51 win over the host Lady Eagles, improving West Clermont’s record to 3-1 overall this season. The loss dropped Milford to 2-1, 1-1 in the ECC.

Milford led 15-14 after one quarter. In this same game last season, Milford trailed by eight after one quarter and lost the contest by 14. Head coach Dave Fallis said the Lady Eagles played well, but still have a few kinks to work out.

“We’re happy with the way we played,” Fallis said. “Jenike went off, so we have some things to work on and that’s on me. We’re competing. We were down 11, came back in the fourth quarter. Our kids understand that our program is on the rise, they bought into that. When we played West Clermont here last year, I wasn’t a game. I think we lost by close to 30.”

West Clermont head coach Jeff Click had high praise for Jenike’s performance to start the season. Through four games, the senior is averaging 25 points per game while shooting 62.2 percent from the floor.

“She’s a gangster,” Click said. “She’s having a great year, so knock on wood that we get to keep playing. She’s done everything and we could ask. [35 points]? That’s getting it done. You just can’t say enough about her. I can’t remember having a player be this good for the first four games. Against good teams, too.”

Click also praised West Clermont’s opponent, noting the Lady Eagles have talent up and down the lineup.

“Milford played great,” Click said. “They’re good. They have a lot of really good players from O’Toole to Ayler to McKenney. They’re battle-tested kids that have been around and I thought they played well.”

West Clermont outscored Milford 10-8 in the second period to take a 24-23 lead at halftime. The Lady Wolves build on that margin, scoring 17 third-quarter points to enter the final period ahead 41-34.

The lead grew to double figures early in the fourth quarter, but Milford chipped away. Much like the team did earlier in the week when they rallied from an 11-point deficit to down Kings in overtime, Milford pulled within a handful of points late against the Wolves.

“They made every big shot down the stretch,” Click said. “If we lost them, they made it. We had some breakdowns and stuff, but they forced some of it. It was a good experience for our young team to try to learn how to win these games. I think we’re going to be in these kinds of games all year. That’s just the kind of team we have, we just can’t go out and out-talent people we’re just going to have to grind the whole time.”

West Clermont was able to pull away thanks to an 80 percent mark from the free-throw line. The Lady Wolves connected on 20 of 25 tries, which helped put the game away. The team shot 47.1 percent from the field in the game compared to Milford’s 32.1 percent.

“We didn’t shoot the ball like we did the first two games,” Fallis said. “We were way off today, but we know that happens. We didn’t attack the rim like we should have. We settled for shots, and that happens. We have to strike a balance on that going forward.”

West Clermont dominated in the paint, scoring 22 points there compared to Milford’s nine.

“The paint is our friend,” Click said. “We have a lot of kids that are developing into confident three-point shooters, they’re not really quite there yet. They’re solid, but they’re still freshmen and sophomores. They just haven’t done it consistently. I think we can get there, but the days of us taking 20 to 30 threes a game probably isn’t going to happen much.”

In adition to Jenike, Alissa White hit double-digits for the Wolves with 10 points. Willa Davis tallied five, with Taylor Schmidt adding four.

Paige Ayler led Milford with 15 points. She and Kaylie McKenney tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Miah O’Toole tallied 14 points for the Lady Eagles.

“We’re making strides every day,” Fallis said. “We tell the kids, we think every game is gonna be just like this. We haven’t even had an easy game yet. Every game in the ECC is meaningful, and that makes it fun. We have a great group of kids, they’re positive about the future. We have to fix and tweak a few things, but we’re going to be just fine.”

Milford is slated to return to action on Thursday, December 3 with a road contest at Oak Hills. West Clermont is back on the court Saturday, December 5 at Turpin.