By Rob Kiser
Miami Valley Today
GREENVILLE — Records are nice.
Winning is even better.
And the Piqua girls basketball team continued to do both Saturday despite a determined effort by Greenville.
Piqua senior Tylah Yeomans — who this fall became the school record holder for career kills in volleyball — became Piqua’s all-time single season scoring leader with her 23-point effort in a 53-46 win over the Wave in MVL action.
The MVL’s leading scorer now has 375 points. Wendi Ousley previously held the record with 373 points. Yeomans is fourth on the all-time scoring list with 840 points.
And the win improved Piqua to 15-5 overall and 11-5 in the MVL play — the most wins Piqua has had in a season since the 1985-86 team won 15.
Greenville dropped to 9-10 overall and 8-8 in the MVL.
But, the Wave did not go down without a fight.
“I think we are going to get everybody’s best shot,” Piqua coach Greg Justice said.
And Greenville was no exception. It was the fourth of six straight games to close the season against teams Piqua already has a win over.
“Teams know when they play us, they are going to have to play their best game to beat us, so they do,” Yeomans said. “But, I love the competition. Everybody wants to beat Piqua, because they are tired of us winning.”
And it has required a change in philosophy for the Indians.
Piqua had to work for everything they got in the paint.
“I think teams are aware of Tylah (Yeomans) and Aubree (Schrubb), so they are backing off the guards a little,” Justice said. “When they do that, players like Karley (Johns) did today, need to step up. And Kenzi (Anderson) hit some huge threes today.”
Yeomans agreed.
“Teams are doublng -down on Aubree (Schrubb) and me,” Yeomans said. “It is definitely getting harder (to score in the paint), but that is when our guards can step up.”
But, when the game was on the line, it was Yeomans who had the ball in her hands.
Piqua had an eight-point led midway through the fourth quarter, but two free throws by Haleigh Benken cut the Indians lead to 44-41.
Greenville had the ball with a chance to tie, but Yeomans intercepted a pass and was fouled at the other end.
She hit two free throws to make it 46-41 with 2:06 remaining.
After a basket by Greenville’s Morgan Gilbert to make it 46-43, Yeomans immediately called for the ball at the other end.
“I had a frenetic 5-5 girl on me,” Yeomans said. “Usually, when I have the size advantage like that, I can post up. It usually works out pretty well.”
Tayler Grunkemeyer spotted her and fired the ball down to here and Yeomans drove and scored with 1:02 to to go to make it 48-43.
Grunkemeyer then grabbed a backside rebound down at the other end to get the ball back to Piqua.
“She (Tayler Grunkemeyer) is a hustler, that is for sure,” Justice said.
Karley Johns hit one of two free throws and Yeomans made two. Johns then added a basket to make 53-43 and seal the win, before Gilbert banked in a three for the final margin.
“I thought we played a really good game,” Justice said. “And we got the ball in the right people’s hands at the end of the game.”
With Johns and Anderson combining for 27 points and Anderson hitting two 3-pointers in the opening half, Piqua had led 16-13, 25-19 and 38-32 at the quarter breaks.
Johns finished with 16 points and seven assists, while Anderson added 11 points and nine rebounds.
Yeomans had six rebounds to go with her scoring, Schrubb had 11 rebounds and three blocked shots and Grunkemeyer dished out five assists.
Behnken led Greenville with 21 points, while Gilbert scored 12 and Libby McKinney added eight points.
Piqua was 16 of 34 from the floor for 47 percent, including three of five from long range for 60 percent.
The Indians converted 18 of 26 free throws for 69 percent, had 34 rebounds and 16 turnovers.
Now, Piqua goes to Fairborn Wednesday, before closing the season at home against Troy — who the beat in overtime the first time.
“In a way it is (hard not to look ahead to Troy),” Yeomans said. “But, we know Fairborn is going to play their best game against us and we are going to have to play well to win.”
And it is just too much fun to stop winning now — with the added bonus of records along the way.
BOXSCORE
Piqua (53)
Tylah Yeomans 8-7-23, Aubree Schrubb 1-1-3, Karley Johns 4-7-16, Tayler Grunkemeyer 0-0-0, Kenzi Anderson 3-3-11, Kathy Young 0-0-0, Elise Cox 0-0-0, Adde Honeycutt 0-0-0, Jana Wagner 0-0-0, Tarika Sutter 0-0-0. Totals: 16-18-53.
Greenville (46)
Haleigh Behnken 9-2-21, Nyesha Wright 0-0-0, Abbie Yoder 1-0-2, Morgan Gilbert 4-3-12, Annie Hayes 1-1-3, Natea Davidson 0-0-0, Libby McKinney 3-0-8, Grace Shaffer 0-0-0. Totals: 18-6-46.
3-point field goals — Piqua: Johns, Anderson (2). Greenville: Behnken, Gilbert, McKinney (2).
Score By Quarters
Piqua 16 25 38 53
Greenville 13 19 32 46
Records: Piqua 15-5 (11-5), Greenville 9-10 (8-8).
Contact Rob Kiser at [email protected].
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