Merrill Girls Basketball Team struggles to get over the hump

PATIENCE PYAN and TINA L. SCOTT

The Merrill Girls Basketball Team traveled to Wausau West on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, for a tough conference match-up.
The Wausau West Girls went on a 14-2 run to start the game off, but the Bluejays inched back to make it 10-14. Merrill hung around with the Warriors for the rest of the first half, with the score going back and forth. Merrill went down 13-19 late in the half but got it back to 18-19, then slipped a bit, going into halftime down 21-26.
The second half of the game started slow for both teams, as many recent games have. Neither team scored for the first third of the second half, and then Merrill made a three-pointer, whittling down at Wausau’s West lead to bring the score to 24-26.
West then took off on a 12-0 run and took control to bring their score up to 38-24.
The Bluejays countered with another little run of their own (8-0), as they tend to do many times during games.
However, the Bluejays couldn’t get control of the Warriors and ended up losing the game.
Close games have been a struggle recently for the Lady Jays. They continue to hang in there but just can’t get over the hump.
The Merrill Girls play Wausau East on Jan. 31 and a very good Crandon team on Feb. 2.
Box Score
Merrill 38 @ Wausau West 51