Wildcats suffer O’Donnell loss

Published February 05, 2013 10:45pm by Josie Musico

Wellman-Union hoops suffered a pair of home defeats Tuesday night that might not have been fun, but still made some great learning opportunities.

The Wildcats fell 31-58 to the visiting O’Donnell squad, following a 40-45 loss from the girls team. 

The Eagles soared ahead 13 points early in the first quarter while Wellman-Union’s side of the scoreboard remained blank until sophomore Luis Gonzales finally scored for the ‘Cats. They were still down 5-19 at the end of the first, 14-38 at halftime and 29-54 after the third. They landed only a couple free throws the entire fourth.

"We had a lot of open looks in the fourth quarter and just didn’t knock them down,” said Head Coach JoeBob Ussery. "We have to stop coming out slow in the first quarter if we want to compete.”

Gonzales led with 15 points, followed by Kirk Martin 7, Vincent Tedford 3, Braden Caldwell 3, Martin Loewen 2, Kirby Bailey 2 and Nathaniel Steiger 1.

Meanwhile O’Donnell freshman Christian Candreva led the Eagles with 22 points, while sophomore Sterling Wilkie landed six three-pointers.

The Wildcats still have two more chances to claim their first victory of the season when they travel to Borden County Friday and host Loop Tuesday.