Lady Hornets Season ends in District Final

Back on Jan. 17, when the Lady Hornets coughed up a lead to Pioneer and lost a game the easily could have won, coach Jeff Waltz wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t think this team would go very far this season.

“When we were 2-and-8, if you told me we’d be playing for a championship, I might have called your crazy,” Waltz said. “But these girls kept fighting.”

Friday night, Saline played Bedford for the district championship in front of the hometown crowd at Saline High school.  The Hornets were down by two at halftime and by six with four minutes to play, but fell, 38-26.

Bedford advances to the regional tournament.

It was a tough loss for Saline, who battled back from an early 11-4 deficit to make it 20-18 at halftime. But the third quarter wasn’t kind to Saline. Shot after shot clanged off the rim. The Hornets were whistled for traveling three times in the quarter. It resulted in a big goose egg for the Hornets in the third quarter.

Still, the staunch Saline defense led by Amanda Price and Caitlin Ellis gave up just four points, and the Hornets were still in position to win the game.

“Our defense kept us in the game. We just couldn’t hit the timely shots tonight,” Waltz said.

 The Hornets shooting woes continued in the fourth, however. Saline didn’t make a second half field goal until Britten Clark scored on a 15-foot jump shot with 4:05 left in the game, to make it 28-22. From there, Bedford was content to slow things down and force Saline to commit fouls.

It was a tough night for a senior-laden team that wasn’t ready to be finished.

“We played our hearts out. This is one game where we didn’t take advantage of some opportunities.. But I am  so proud of these girls. At the beginning of the year we said we wanted to change the culture and make this a winning program. And I think we were able to turn some heads and do a good job,” Waltz said.

Saline graduates eight seniors from the program. Friday night’s game was the last as a Hornet for Alison Rentschler, Kelsey Pelletier, Katie Crysler, Cera Smart, Amanda Price, Alli Cope, Britten Clark and Jill Borowski.

“When we look back at this three or four years from now, we are going to remember these seniors for starting the foundation,” Waltz said.

Despite losing so many seniors, Waltz is optimistic about the near future for the Saline girls’ basketball programs.

“We have some talented juniors and our junior varsity and freshman teams played extremely well this year. We are going to groom them, all summer long,” Waltz said.

After the game, Waltz and the team met for 15 minutes.

“For the seniors, I just thanked them for everything. I’ve never had more fun coaching a sport. I’ve never been more proud of a group of girls. I’m proud to be their coach and thankful for the season we had,” Waltz said.

Clark led Saline with 11 points. Borowski scored four and grabbed four rebounds.  Caitlin Ellis had seven rebounds.