By Ben Stroup
Kelly Meade had her best game of the young season, pouring in 25 points to lead the Olentangy girls basketball team to a solid 75-40 OCC-Capital Division win over host Big Walnut Friday in Sunbury.
“Meade played like the D-II signee she is,” Braves coach John Feasel said after his team won its 16th straight league showdown. “She did a lot of things well tonight. Our bench played well tonight, too. We got into some foul trouble — we had five different girls with two fouls at halftime — but our bench came in and did a nice job.”
Olentangy (2-1, 2-0 OCC) led 40-15 at halftime before a 19-9 third all but sealed the outcome.
Liberty 77, Central Crossing 32
Alexa Fisher scored 15 points in her first action since an offseason knee injury, and Bre Yashko added 10 points to lead Liberty to a decisive OCC-Central Division win Friday night at Central Crossing.
“Our energy was good all night,” Patriot coach Sam Krafty said.
Liberty (3-0, 2-0 OCC) led 14-4 after the first quarter and 33-6 at halftime.
Sophomore post Lauren Spicer was also solid in the win, finishing in double-digits with 10 points.
Worthington Kilbourne 68, Hayes 32
Jessica Walker finished with a career-high 11 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Pacers (1-2) dropped their second straight league game Friday in Worthington.
North Union 41, Buckeye Valley 26
Megan Veneman finished with a team-best 11 points and Logan Hatcher added eight, but Buckeye Valley (1-2) didn’t get much else from a scoring standpoint en route to their first league loss of the season Friday against visiting North Union.
Also: New Albany 58, Orange 47
From Thursday
Erin McCullough poured in 14 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks, but it wasn’t enough as Delaware Christian fell to visiting Fairfield Christian 51-33 Thursday in Delaware.
Olivia House was also solid in the setback, finishing with seven points and five boards.
BOYS BASKETBALL
New Albany used a 7-0 fourth-quarter run to pull within single digits, but visiting Orange got it done down the stretch to notch a 56-47 season-opening win.
Colin Shepherd stopped the bleeding with a clutch hoop, kissed a runner off the glass to put the Pioneers (1-0, 1-0 OCC) up eight several minutes later and hit a pair of free throws following an Eagle technical foul to give his team a comfy 49-39 cushion with 1:15 left.
New Albany cut the deficit to five with 40 seconds to go, but Orange hit its free throws to seal the deal.
Central Crossing 50, Liberty 48, OT
Spencer Mitchell scored a game-high 20 points for Liberty (0-1, 0-1 OCC), finishing 8-for-11 from the free-throw line, but visiting Central Crossing outscored the Patriots 9-7 in overtime to escape with a 50-48 OCC-Central Division win Friday in Powell.
From Thursday
Buckeye Valley 53, North Union 40
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Follow Ben Stroup on Twitter @delgazette_ben.