This year and last, Weston opened the LHSAA prep basketball season by playing Summerfield. In both games, the Claiborne Parish-based school scored over 60 points. Last year Weston lost by 34 points. On Monday night the Lady Wolves beat the defending Class C state semifinalist’s by a 70-61 margin. What a difference a year makes!

Three players did most of the scoring for Weston, led by 23 points each from Emma Kate McBride and Briley Peterson. Lainee Trosclair also came up big with 17 points on the strength of five 3-pointers. Jessica Newton chipped in with three points with both Lexie Millien and Anslee Aldy adding first-half baskets.

“During pre-season practices and scrimmages we showed that we had the potential to be a good offensive team this season,” said WHS head coach Stacy Tucker following the contest. “When several are hot at the same time like they were tonight we can score a lot of points.”

Last year the Lady Wolves topped the 70-point mark only twice all season. Both times it was midway through the season and one of those was against a winless team. With McBride hitting 50% of her shots and both Peterson and Trosclair checking in at a 42% and 40% clip, the Lady Wolves lit up the scoreboard despite scoring only six points in the first quarter. 

Slow start! In the early going it looked like Summerfield would send Weston to a season-opening loss once again as Weston could manage only a pair of baskets by Peterson and one by Trosclair. Conversely, the Lady Wolves could not stop Kearra Wilson who scored 8 first-quarter points to pace Summerfield to a 14-6 lead after one period of play. 

“We got off to a slow start but I am proud of the way the girls continued to battle,” reflected Tucker. “We started to find the range in the second quarter and that carried over through the rest of the game.”

Trosclair’s Triples! The eight-point deficit turned into a 30-29 Weston lead at the break thanks mainly to the dead-eye shooting of Lainee Trosclair who scored nine points in the quarter on the strength of three of the five three-pointers she made on the night. McBride, added seven in the frame, Peterson hit a pair of hoops and both Millien and Aldy scored as Weston had five players tally in the period, the most they had all game. 

Peterson’s Penetrations! Weston outscored Summerfield 40-32 in the second half thanks mainly to Peterson becoming aggressive and driving the lane time and again. The result was her scoring 15 second-half points and fouling out two of Summerfield’s top three scorers. That effort carried over to the defensive end of the floor as well where Peterson registered four blocks and three steals to go with her 8 rebounds on the night.  

McBride Magnificent! Not only did McBride deal six dimes while running the offense and hit half of her field goals to tie for game-high scoring honors, but the senior was also a perfect 5/5 from the line. More importantly with the game in the balance, she kept Summerfield at bay by scoring nine points down the stretch. 

Slow Start Dooms Wolves 

Weston outscored Summerfield 42-38 in the second half but an eleven-point deficit at the half proved to be too much to overcome in the season-opening 69-62 loss. Two players did most of the damage for the Wolves and almost all of the scoring in the first half Bryce Zehr led Weston in scoring with 24 points followed closely by Braden Theriot with 23 as the pair did most of the damage for the Wolves and almost all of the scoring in the decisive first half. 

The difference in the game was really in the first quarter when Summerfield jumped out to an 18-10 lead with Zehr scoring eight of the point for Weston and Theriot adding the other two. Weston would score only ten points again in the second quarter to trail 31-20 at the break but thanks to the strong second half the two teams played basically even over the final three quarters with Weston holding a 51-50 advantage.

Three players scored all but four points for Summerfield led by 27 points from Marquez Tate. Tre Kennedy added 21 and Dalton Walton chipped in with 15. Tait Henderson added six for Weston with Garrett Nickerz chipping in with three. JaMichael Fourd, Jude Otwell, and Juan Gonzalez scored two apiece for the Wolves forced to play without normal starter Mitchel Mathews who is dealing with a sprained ankle. 

“Mitchel wanted to play tonight but we didn’t want to take the chance of him aggravating the injury,” said WHS coach Jacob Otwell. “You want to put your best players on the floor every game, but this was just the first game of a long season. We felt it better to be cautious tonight so he would be back at full strength this weekend.”

Weston plays Castor in Dodson Tournament on Thursday

The Weston boys and girls have a first-round matchup with Castor at the Dodson Tournament on Thursday, November 3rd. The girls will open the action with a 5:00pm game on Thursday night followed by the boys taking the court at 6:30pm. The winner will match up with Calvin on Friday at a time to be determined.