An Ariel Dale Career Night and a Fourth Quarter Surge Fuel Trojan Win on the Road
Mishawaka, Ind. – In Taylor’s first game of 2022, the Trojans defeated the Bethel Pilots (7-10, 2-3 CL) on the road by a score of 100-85. Junior Ariel Dale scored a career-best 24 points, while sophomore Taylor Westgate hauled in 21 rebounds, a career-high and the most by a Trojan in over two decades.
Taylor has now won nine of its last 10 matchups against Bethel, including six in a row, a stretch in which the Trojans have won by an average of 37.5 points-per-game.
A strong fourth-quarter effort sealed the deal for Taylor, as the Trojans outscored Bethel 35-21 in the game’s final ten minutes. The 35-point fourth quarter helped nudge the Trojans into triple digits for the second time this season, a much needed boost after averaging just 61.1 points in their last seven games.
Dale led all scorers with her career-best 24 points, 16 of which came in the second half. The North Manchester, Indiana, native shot 8-12 from the field, while knocking down four of her seven three-point shots taken.
Senior Lauren James was masterful down the stretch, scoring 12 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter on 4-4 shooting from three. Fellow senior, Merideth Deckard, contributed 15 more, all of which came from three-point land.
Westgate’s monster night on the boards boosted her league-leading average to 12.2 rebounds-per-game. Meanwhile, the sophomore scored 11 points and collected her eight double-double of the year.
The Trojan offense was slow-going at first, shooting just 22.2 percent in the first quarter on 18 shots taken from the floor. The charity stripe lived up to its name, however, as Taylor benefited on 9-11 trips to the free-throw line and led by a score of 19-16 at the end of the first.
Both offenses picked up the pace in the second frame, especially for Taylor, though, as the Trojans posted a 52.6-percent clip from the field. Deckard, Dale, and senior, Kayla Kirtley, led the charge, while Kirtley capped the quarter with a ridiculous buzzer-beating shot from 50 feet out.
Taylor owned a five-point edge heading into the half, but Bethel soon chipped away in the third while the Trojans shot just 3-16 from three. Dale’s eight-point third quarter helped Taylor maintain its lead, albeit by a single point.
An incredible 35-point fourth-quarter effort sent the Trojans home happy, however, as the team shot 63.2 percent from the field and buried seven of 10 shots from three down the stretch.
Taylor (8-9, 2-3 CL) will return to the court on Saturday, January 8th, when the Trojans travel to Winona Lake to take on Grace (10-5, 1-3 CL) at 1:00 pm.