BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, the Merrill Varsity Girls Basketball Team took to the court to play their first game of the season against Shiocton. The home game made for a great start for the Bluejay Girls, starting out with a 67-34 win on their home court right out of the gate. Merrill’s #14 Mia Ott led the action on the court, putting up 28 points in the game (11 FG, 5 3pt, 1 FT, 4 ast, 6 stl). #12 Sophie Wendorf was the second highest scorer for Merrill with 12 total points (4 FG, 3 3pt, 1 FT, 2 stl), followed by #5 Grace Reimann with 9 game points (4 FG, 1 3pt, 3 stl).
The Merrill ladies led the game stats, hitting an even 50% of their field goals attempted, scoring 28.2% of the 3-pointers they attempted, and making 54.5% of their free throws.
Box Score
Shiocton 34 @ Merrill 67
In their second game of the season, the Merrill Girls traveled to Ashland where they again left their mark, coming away with a 61-16 win against the Ashland Girls. Merrill’s #14 Mia Ott was again the high scorer, racking up 23 points (4 FG, 2 3pt, 13 FT, 2 ast, 9 stl) in this game and bringing her stats up to an even 700 career points. As in the season opener, #12 Sophie Wendorf was the second highest scorer for Merrill, scoring 11 game points (4 FG, 2 3pt, 1 FT, 6 stl), and #5 Grace Reimann followed with 7 game points (1 FG, 5 FT, 4 stl).
The Merrill Girls didn’t play quite as well statistically in this game, however, with the exception of their awesome free-throw success rate. Still, Merrill hit 27.3% of their field goals attempted, scored 22.2% of the 3-pointers they attempted, and made a whopping 83.3% of their free throws.
Box Score
Merrill 61 @ Ashland 16