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Waynedale Golden Bears High School Athletics

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Waynedale Must Play Well Early

          Waynedale faces Worthington Christian in a state semifinal in division III Thursday afternoon at the University of Dayton.

          The winner plays Saturday against either Cincinnati Purcell Marian or Union Local for a state championship.

          Waynedale (28-0) is the outright champion of the Wayne County Athletic League and is making its second straight appearance in the state tournament.  They lost (46-36) to Ottawa-Glandorf in a state semi last year.

          Coach Rick Geiser says they have focused on defense and rebounding this year.  “I think we have done a great job on the defensive end of consistently putting forth great efforts.  The girls are very feisty and they do a great job on the glass as well rebounding.  So, I think defense and rebounding has been our forte and then find enough points to put on the board to get the W’s.” he said.

          They have played Chippewa and Dalton twice in league play and beat bigger schools, such as Ohio Cardinal Conference champion West Holmes this year.

          Geiser feels their regular season schedule prepared them well for the tournament.  “When we make our schedule, we are always trying to see who we can play that is going to give us a good challenge and make us better because the better the competition is the better you play and the more you can learn from it,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “We were pretty happy with the schedule we were able to put together.  The girls have just done a great job of preparing for every game and coming out with a win.”

          Waynedale edged Warrensiville Heights (44-43) to win a regional title last Saturday at Cuyahoga Falls High School.

          Worthington Christian (26-2) beat Ottawa-Glandorf (46-43) in overtime to win their regional title last week.

          Geiser says they have a really good player and some other pieces.  “They are very well coached.  There has been a lot of success for them as well.  They have a thousand point scorer in Blessing King and she does lots of things for them.  They put around her a bunch of shooters that can shoot it from outside.  So, we’ll definitely have our hands full.  They are not as tall as what we saw in the regional final against Warrensville Heights.  So, size wise it is a little better matchup for us,” said Geiser.

          Geiser says Worthington Christian is outstanding, but they are not head and shoulders above of the teams they have played.  “They look like a team that would fit well in our league.  They do not have a girl inside that is super tall.  Blessing King is listed at 5’10” and that’s their tallest.  They just look like a Wayne County Athletic League team, a very good one.  It should be a good battle between the two of us,” he said.

          Geiser says they need to get off to better start than they did last year at the state level and then just do the things they do.  “We have to find a way to get some buckets early, so we can get off to a quicker start.  Last year at the state tournament I think we were down 17-4 right away.  We need to recognize their movements that we have prepared for defensively and then rebounding their first miss.  We have to keep Blessing King off the glass because she is very active,” said Geiser.

Published 3/10/22

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