SHELBY — The Whippets needed a spark and Sydnie Seibert provided it Saturday night.
A freshman guard, Seibert scored six of her 12 points during a decisive 11-0 fourth-quarter run as Shelby knocked off Ashland 61-55 in the final game of the Richland Source Challenge at Shelby High School.
The Whippets (2-3) broke a 44-44 tie when Raven Hill hit her third and final 3-pointer of the game with 6:15 to play in the fourth. Seibert followed with three quick buckets and, after Emma Randall scored on a putback, Shelby led 55-44 with 3:28 remaining.
“I thought it was an excellent team effort tonight. Different players stepped up at different times,” Shelby coach Natalie Lantz said. “Seibert sparked us a little bit and Raven Hill knocked down some treys for us tonight. We needed those girls to come up big and they did.”
It didn’t look like the Whippets would be in need of any fourth-quarter heroics in the early going Saturday. Shelby led 16-8 after the first quarter and built what appeared to be a comfortable 29-16 advantage late in the second before the Arrows (4-4) came to life. Ashland closed the half on a 10-0 run to trim Shelby’s lead to 29-26. Katie McQuillen scored four points during the stretch.
“We came out flat and dug ourselves a pretty big hole,” Ashland coach Jason Snow said. “We got back into it, but we expended so much energy.”
The Arrows took a 34-33 lead — their first of the night — on an Alyssa Steury jumper with 4:53 to play in the third. The lead would exchange hands five more times before Shelby pulled away in the fourth.
“Ashland is a really good team. They have a couple of talented guards in Steury and (Kylie) Radebaugh who have been around for a while.
Steury scored a game-high 19 points while Radebaugh added 14 and McQuillen added 10.
Bailey Walter led Shelby with 15 points. Siebert had 12, while Hill added 11 and Randall chipped in with 10.
