River Ridge girls basketball rebounds after last second loss at Belmont to defeat visiting Benton

By A.J. Gates

A 52-22 victory over the visiting Benton Zephyrs last Friday night propelled coach Veronica Zinkle and her River Ridge Timberwolves to a Six Rivers West conference record of 4-3, while improving to 11-5 on the season.

The host Timberwolves had little trouble against the Zephyrs (1-5, 4-13), holding an 18-7 lead at the half before outscoring their opponent 34-15 in the second half.

While the Timberwolves made 20-of-57 (35 percent) total shot attempts, including 7-of-26 (27 percent) from 3-point range, the Zephyrs struggled offensively, making 9-of-51 (17.6 percent) shot attempts, including 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from long range. From the free throw line, the Timberwolves were 5-of-15 (33 percent) compared to just 1-of-6 (16.6 percent) for the Zephyrs, who also committed 24 total turnovers.

Junior guard Mandi Wehrle scored a team-high 13 points for the Timberwolves on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor, including a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown. She also pulled down seven rebounds and came away with two steals.

Senior Shayna Graf was close behind with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from the line, while also pulling down six boards and coming away with two steals.

Freshman Erin Adrian chipped in eight points, while junior Reghan Zinkle had a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with six points and a team-high four steals.

Following this past Monday night’s non-conference contest against visiting Galena, the Timberwolves will next host Shullsburg Thursday night, and will be at Wauzeka-Steuben on Friday.