Recap: West Branch Warriors vs. Williamsburg Blue Pirates
The West Branch Warriors suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Monday. They had to suffer through a rough 56-28 loss at the hands of Williamsburg. While losing is never fun, West Branch can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 454th, while Williamsburg is ranked 90th).
West Branch's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Sarah Guglielmi, who scored nine points. Jenna Mertz was another key contributor, scoring nine points.
Williamsburg was led to victory by Ayla Hileman and Levada Gorsuch. Hileman scored 19 points along with eight rebounds, while Gorsuch dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Hileman has scored at least a third of Williamsburg's points. Another player making a difference was Leeanna Royer, who scored seven points along with four steals.
West Branch's defeat was their third straight at home, which dropped their record down to 5-6. Those losses could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 29.7 points per game. As for Williamsburg, the win (which was their 11th in a row) raised their record to 15-1.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. West Branch the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome Juniata Valley at 6:30 p.m. on January 24th. Hopefully Juniata Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 15 on Monday. As for Williamsburg, they will be playing at home against Southern Huntingdon County at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday. Southern Huntingdon County is also coming in off of a big victory, so somebody is in for a big reversal of fortune.
