Lady Senators fall to Salem

The turkey will taste a little sweeter for the Lady Lions on Thursday, after their lopsided win on Tuesday night over West Washington. Salem’s defense smothered the Lady Senators on their way to an 80-30 win to move to 7-0 on the season.

Salem Head Coach Jerry Hickey said it was a good win for his team. “It was ugly at times, but it was pretty good at times. They are pretty undermanned right now, having to play a lot of young kids. They are in a tough position. We are just kind of rolling along. We don’t play for nine days so we want to keep our kids in a rhythm, but you also want to be conscious of the score. That’s a tough game to coach in.”

Salem scored early and often in the first quarter. Just five seconds into the game Abigail Ratts scored on a putback to give Salem a lead they would never relinquish. Bailey Hypes knocked down a three to make it a 7-0 lead prompting a quick West Washington time out. The Lady Senators got their first points of the night on a basket in the paint from Riley Hall. Salem kept clicking though as Natalie Noel drained a three to push the lead out 12-2.

In the start of the second quarter, Karly Sweeney drove to the bucket for a layup to keep Salem rolling. Macie Tomlinson splashed a three to push the lead out 23-2. With 4:51 left in the half, Hall got another score in the post to snap the nearly 10 minute scoring drought for the Senators to make it 25-4. Madison Brown scored with just under two minutes left in the half to make it 31-6 late in the half.

The full story and photos are in the The Salem Democrat, Nov. 26 edition, on newsstands through Monday and as digital copy for $1 on salemleader.com.