The West Greene Lady Buffaloes are 2-0 on the young season after a 32-point win over University High, 58-26 at home on Friday night.
Payton Norton opened the game with a corner three for the Lady Buffaloes, but from there both teams looked sluggish at times for most of the opening quarter. The Lady Buffs were nursing a 10-6 lead as the quarter was winding down and Emily Justis knocked the bottom out of a triple from the elbow at the buzzer to give West Greene a 13-6 lead, but more importantly a much-needed spark.
Joie Shipley got the Lady Buffs started early in the second quarter when she banked one in off the glass, then Shipley found Morgan Brown for wide open buckets on back-to-back trips down the court to extend the lead to 19-10. The Buff defense did their job from that point on, only allowing the Lady Buccaneers four points in the second quarter. The Lady Buffs took a 25-10 lead into the locker room at the half.
The second half started much like the first half did with the Lady Buffs hitting a three pointer. Shipley was left all alone behind the arc and the 6’ lefthander showed her range for the triple. Norton then stole the ball and went coast to coast for the score.
Next Shipley found Norton just seconds later under the goal for another score. Brown and Shipley hit on consecutive layups and the rout was on as the Lady Buffs led 38-15. Norton finished off the quarter with another buzzer beater and the Lady Buffs were up 44-18 after three quarters of play.
The fourth quarter was just a formality, and the Lady Buffs went on to victory 58-26.
The Lady Buffs put four players in double figures for the second game in a row. Norton had 11 points as did Justis, while Madison Wagner and Shipley both had 10 points. Shipley also added 13 rebounds for the double-double.
A very pleased coach Betsy Shaw said, “We cannot start that slow, we started slow and that’s something we have to fix. We’re improving on our rebounding; that’s something we have to have. Joie does a good job rebounding for us and she protects the paint so well.”
