Wellington’s height mismatch was evident with Gabby Miller (5-foot-11) and returning Division III All-Ohioan Brooke Lehmkuhl (6-0).
In a Jan. 6 Lorain County League showdown against Clearview, the Dukes exploited their height advantage to dominate the glass and the paint for a 55-28 victory.
The towering tandem made its presence known in the first quarter to help outrebound Clearview, 16-2. It eventually went to 28-10 at halftime, as Wellington led, 33-12, at halftime.
“Our girls did a really nice job of rebounding the basketball, especially our two post players (Lehmkuhl and Miller), …” Wellington coach Nathan Morris said. “The thing about (Miller’s performance) is that she said that she had to work on her rebounding. She went out there and did that today. We had a size advantage as well. We had a big advantage today.”
Miller was motivated to be productive in the paint after she admitted to a lackluster performance in a 58-27 Brookside win the game prior. She challenged herself and scored 13 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.
“In the Brookside game, my rebounding was not (to my standard),” Miller said. “Coming into this game, I told myself and my coach that I need to get more rebounds. I need to be better. Coming out here and being able to do that was a nice, refreshing feeling.”
Lehmkuhl scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds. She scored six points in the first quarter, which led to a 14-2 run at the start and a 21-4 lead at the end of the quarter.
As one player was guarded by Reina Ramos for rebounds, the other was often left with a guard on weakside rebounds.
“We were very strong in the post. We were getting the boards, so we were able to get more shots up. We were getting the ball to the guards so they can also shoot good shots,” Lehmkuhl said.
From the perimeter, players such as Hope Dudziak (five points), Taylor Morris (10) and Savannah Gundert (nine) were major contributors that fed off Lehmkul and Miller’s success. They were also the ones who fed the twin towers in the paint.
“I think that our guards have done a nice job of adjusting and are doing a better job of looking inside,” Morris said. “Our posts are doing a nice job of kicking it back out when they get double-teamed.”
The Dukes lean on them in other sports as well, volleyball being one of them. They have taken the chemistry that’s been built for years and turn it into a positive on the court.
“I’d say that it’s pretty hard (to defend us),” Miller said. “We are both (in the paint), we have our hands up and we are boxing out. We are also bigger girls.”
Clearview, which often comes in as the undersized team, was unable to match the physicality of Wellington. That will be a point of emphasis as it will play Columbia on Jan. 12.
“I think to start the game, we came out flat and lazy,” Clearview coach Nick Dimacchia said. “We didn’t play with any type of intensity. When you play against a bigger and better team, you can’t start games slow. I thought we played a lot better in the second half.”
Annie Green was Clearview’s leading scorer with 12 points.
Though Clearview came in undersized, it still had guards, such as Green and Alexia Rodriguez (six points, six assists, three steals). Wellington wanted to do its best to neutralize the threats, which Morris thought his team did effectively.
“I thought our defensive effort was the best it’s been. I give a lot of credit to our guard Savannah (Gundert). Hope (Dudziak) had to match up with Rodriguez for most of the night,” he said.
Wellington won its third straight since its 45-41 loss to Monroeville and improved to 8-2 (5-1 in LC8).
Clearview dropped to 3-6 (2-3 in LC8). The Clippers had a 2-2 record in their last four games.
THE SCORE
Wellington 55, Clearview 28
