Wheeling will take this win any day
Monday night games can be worrisome for a basketball coach.
"Sometimes you're not sure what you're going to get," said Wheeling girls basketball coach Shelly Wiegel.
The fourth-year coach got a splendid effort from her state-ranked Wildcats this time.
Host Wheeling (11-2) sped to a 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes and then coasted to a 62-23 victory over Neuqua Valley in the nonconference game.
Wiegel played all 16 girls on her roster for the third time this season, and got a season-high 23 points from junior Ashley Wilson along with 8 rebounds.
Other top scorers for the hosts were Bianca Szafarowicz (11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals), Natasha Robinson (7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals) and Janelle Cannon (5 points, 8 assist, 4 steals).
Wilson had 6 points in the first quarter and Robinson 4 as Wheeling held the visitors to 1 field goal by Terry Newman in the final minute.
"They reminded me of some of our good teams in the past," said Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams, whose club is 6-7. "They are a seasoned veteran team with a lot of maturity. If we could have found ways to put the ball in the basket, it would have been closer. Defensively, I thought we did OK."
Williams' team was led by senior Viv Kindt's 6 points. Teammate Beth Goldberg hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Leading 29-8 at half, Wheeling outscored the visitors 25-2 in the third quarter.
Wilson had had 19 of her 23 points in the middle quarters and played a little less than three quarters.
"I thought we looked really good," said the three-year starter, who is being recruited by several Division I schools. "The defense was good and the offense was clicking. We had a lot of movement.
"We got a lot of good looks at the basket and we played our type of basketball."
Cannon made a steal late in the third quarter and then assisted on a layup by Szafarowicz, which gave the Wildcats their biggest lead at 56-10.
"We're still trying to rebound from our loss to Buffalo Grove (43-34, two weeks ago)," Szafarowicz said. "We're playing better and smarter now. I don't think individually we are playing up to our potential but as a team we're a lot better."
Jessie Smith, Bridgette Gray, Stephanie Kuzmanic Lindsey Mills, Lana Rukavina and Nicole Schroeder all put points on the board for Wheeling.
Rukavina played a little less than two quarters.
Wiegel said her 6-foot-3 Illinois recruit was running down the floor on a fastbreak and felt something "a little funny" in one of her legs.
"Just to be safe, we decided not to play her after that since we have three more games this week."
"Wheeling's a good team," Williams said. "I'll be glad when their veteran players graduate. But our girls didn't give up and battled to weather the storm. "