FeedsRomulus overcomes Inkster
Click image to enlarge
Erika Wasson scored 31 points for Romulus to help carry the team past Inkster, 62-46.There was an electric atmosphere in the Romulus gym on Tuesday night.
It was an air uncommon to this time of the year—an energy usually witnessed at the end of a season, during a conference playoff, district tournament or regional competition.
This, however, was only the second game of divisional play for both the Romulus Lady Eagles and the Inkster Lady Vikings. Yet Romulus came out and played the game of a lifetime and proved it’s a legitimate contender in the Mega Red Conference when the Lady Eagles defeated last year’s conference champs, 62-46.
Although it was a team effort, one player stood out when the bout between the conference heavyweights ended. Erika Wasson, who didn’t score any points in the first quarter, finished the night with 31—including four triples—and 10 rebounds for Romulus.
“We’ve been working on shooting and I guess (Wasson) decided that we needed something,” said Romulus Coach Candice Finley, holding her chest as if her racing heart was about to leap out. “She had a great game and we really needed it.”
The performance came just two days after Finley admitted that her team lacked an outside game. Wasson proved her wrong.
“Every day we work on shooting and some days they’re on and some days they’re off,” Wasson said. “Today, they were on.”
Inkster looked like they had things under control in the first quarter, though. Led by senior all-state guard Lonnie Terrell, the Lady Vikings knocked down 21 points. Terrell scored 14 of her team-leading 25 in the quarter. She even upped the ante when she knocked down a buzzer-beating triple to put her team up, 21- 14.
Wasson was quiet in the frame, allowing Kanaya Williams to lead the team with six.
Romulus put all their chips on the table in the second.
Wasson opened the session with a triple and scored nine more points through the eight-minute period to help bring her Eagles to within two points, 34-32, at the half.
After the intermission, Terrell went out with a minor injury and Romulus took advantage. The Lady Eagles went on a six-point run to capture their first lead of the game, 40-34. Terrell came back in with about 3:25 left in the third and scored seven points, including another buzzer-beater triple. Inkster trailed by one, 47-46.
Something remarkable happened in the fourth. Romulus blanked Inkster in the final quarter to cement the victory.
“The girls knew the only way that we were going to win this game was with defense,” Finley said. “I told them at halftime that Inkster is a championship team so we have to step out on the floor and we have to play like this is a championship game and that we’re trying to win it. They took it to heart and did what they had to do.”
“Coach preaches defense every day to us,” Wasson added. “We just knew that we had to go out and show her. We knew we had to pick it up.
“We knew that they would tire and that we would have to take it to them,” she added. “And when their good players weren’t on the court we knew we had to take it to them. When (Lonnie) wasn’t in the game they didn’t do anything.”
The Romulus defense—coupled with several forced and unforced turnovers—put Inkster behind, according to Inkster Coach Peggy Carr.
“We had too many turnovers…I think we give up way too easy,” she said. “There’s no other, nice way to put it—we give up too easy. Every time we get challenged we give up and we can’t do that. We’re going to lose a lot of games this year if we do that. We can’t teach them how to have heart.
“(Romulus) is not a better team than us,” she added. “We just had too many turnovers.”
For Romulus, a team that struggled through their first year in the Mega Red last year, this could be just the push they needed.
“This is a big boost in our team’s confidence,” Wasson said. “ We beat (Inkster) and now we know that we’re on their level.”
