SHELBY — Haylee Baker and her Shelby teammates put the exclamation point on another Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship Saturday afternoon.
Baker scored a game-high 19 points and the second-ranked Whippets captured their fourth consecutive MOAC crown with a 49-28 win over visiting Clear Fork.
The Whippets (20-0, 12-0) limited the Colts (18-4, 9-4) to nine points in the second half to win going away.
A 5-foot-8 senior and Baldwin-Wallace recruit, Baker had the unenviable task of guarding Clear Fork’s 6-foot-4 center Bekah Conrad. Baker held Conrad scoreless in the second half.
“We really had to focus on picking up the intensity at the defensive end and getting rebounds,” said Baker, who came in averaging 12.2 points and a team-best 5.3 rebounds a game. “We only have one more game left on this court, so we’re just trying to make every moment count.”
The Colts led 12-9 after the first quarter and were still within striking distance at the half, trailing 25-19. The Whippets opened the third quarter on a 14-0 run, however, and never looked back. Baker scored six points during the spurt.
“I think you saw Shelby basketball to start the third quarter, forcing turnovers and getting in the passing lanes and getting deflections,” Shelby coach Natalie Lantz said. “And then attacking offensively. We still missed way too many bunnies. We’ve got to focus on finishing.
“I’m proud of the girls for battling and putting their foot down in the second half.”
The Colts raced out to a 7-0 lead to start the game behind Conrad. The senior scored six first-quarter points and had 11 at halftime.
“We did a lot of things that we wanted to do in the first half and we were only down by six,” Clear Fork coach Scott Sellers said. “We can’t let it balloon to a 12-point lead and we knew that. They’re too good.
“We had four or five turnovers to start the second half and they weren’t pressure turnovers, things that 21 games in we shouldn’t do. We did and they took advantage of it.”
Conrad was the only Colt to reach double figures with 11. She was backed by Lilly Wortman, who had seven. Annika Labaki added six.
Olivia Baker and Audi Albert each scored 10 points for the Whippets. Sophie Niese added five.
Shelby has lost just one MOAC game since joining the conference for the 2018-19 season. The Whippets were 11-1 in conference play last year, sharing the title with Marion Harding
“Goal No. 1 was to win the MOAC outright,” Lantz said. “We want to go undefeated at home, and we can with a win Tuesday night (against Marion Pleasant in a make-up game). It means a lot more when you can finish strong on your home court. It’s the last game for the seniors at Shelby High School.
“There’s a lot of excitement. We just need to settle and do our jobs.”
