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Winters Becomes All-Time Career Scoring Leader on Senior Night

By Rick Loy - Staff Writer | Apr 14, 2021

The Magnolia Blue Eagles played host to Wheeling Central Maroon Knights on Thursday evening April 8, 2021 and honored their two seniors, Mady Winters and Lenieca Grimm. The Blue Eagles posted a 61-49 victory over the Knights.

Magnolia senior Mady Winters reached two huge career milestones in the same game. “It’s been a goal of mine for a long time, especially since missing last year,” Winters said. “The team worked really hard (Thursday).”

In the first quarter of the Blue Eagles game with Wheeling Central she pulled down her 1,000th career rebound becoming the fourth girl in school history to reach that mark. Then in the fourth quarter she became the school’s all-time leading scorer finishing the night with 19 points and 1,531 career points. A feat that almost did not happen for her following a severe ACL injury that cost her, the entire junior season.

Winters is the third player in Magnolia history to reach 1000 points and 1000 rebounds in a career. Quite a feat for the Wheeling University recruit, going on to play volleyball for the Cardinals (High powered Division II program).

During the first half Central held Winters in check and she only had four points going into the break. However, her teammates were stepping up and making things happen which opened up the game for her. “I knew it was coming. They did it the whole time the last time when we were up there,” Winters said. “I knew if I beat the girl, get the rebound and put it back in, that was my main source of scoring. Rebounding.”

Winter scored nine of her teams 15 points in the third and with 5:25 to play in the fourth she hit a layup to become the girls all-time scorer at Magnolia.

“They did a great job of containing Mady in the first half,” Magnolia coach Meredith Pilant said. “A lot of our girls stepped up and hit a lot of big shots. We shot the ball really well in the first half, which opened things up. They had to come out and guard a little bit, so that opened up Mady to do her thing underneath and I can’t say more about the total team effort.”

Senior Leneica Grimm gave the Blue Eagle a big lift as she finished the game with 12 points while controlling the offense.

“These two seniors are two seniors that came in when I started as head coach,” Pilant said about Winters and Grimm. ” They were my freshmen, so it means a lot for me to watch them all four years through the program. They worked so hard. They have two sectional championships, two regional championships and two regional appearances. It’s just a pair that holds a special place in my heart.”

Holland Estep had a big night for the Blue as well asz she stepped back and sank three 3-pointers on her way to 11 points. Abby Clegg pitched in with nine. The Blue Eagles led by as many as 17, but Central rallied a little to get within 11 twice, but couldn’t get any closer.

Coach Meredith Pilant’s Lady Eagles took a 35-20 lead into the halftime break and never was threatened on their way to victory. The Blue Eagles avenged an early season loss at the hands of the Maroon Knights and pick up their fifth win against 13 losses on the season.

Linsly Takes

Down Blue Eagles

Linsly used double figures from four players to offset a game high 26 points from Magnolia star Mady Winters and grab a 63-46 victory over the Blue Eagles on Tuesday night, April 6, in Wheeling.

Winters who is averaging nearly 28 points a game, was coming off a 35 point explosion on Monday at John Marshall. She has had double-doubles the past five of six games and Tuesday was no exception as she ended with 16 rebounds to go along with her scoring.

However, Linsly got a fine performance and double-double from Carleigh Grimm with 19 points and 21 rebounds, while Molley Heron hit for 15, Navaeh Cook added 12, and Haley Heitz scored 11. The Cadets improved remainded undefeated and now stand at 10-0 on the season.

Helping Winters on the night was senior guard Leneica Grimm with 10 points. Holland Estep tossed in six points and Jenna Blain ended with four. Magnolia ended with 17 field goals including two 3’s and went 10-19 from the free throw line.

Blue Eagles

Fall to Monarchs

Despite 35 points from Magnolia senior star Mady Winters the home standing Monarchs of John Marshall led most of the way as they captured a 69-54 victory over visiting Magnolia.

John Marshall used a balanced attack with three players hitting double figures including 21 from Madge Lucy and 16 from Landyn Helms, plus 14 from Catherine Hunnell. Lakyn Groves nearly gave them four players in twin figures as she hit for nine.

Besides Winters game high scoring the Blue Eagles got nine points from Jenna Blain. Winter hit 14 field goals including a three pointer and went 10-14 from the free throw line on the night. She also grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double.

John Marshall behind a solid night of defense forced the Blue Eagles into turnovers and scored often off the full court pressure. The result was a 36-22 halftime lead that made the difference. The home team hit 25 field goals including four from beyond the arc and made 15-19 free throws. Magnolia hit 22 field goals but only canned 9-15 from the line.

“I thought they did a nice job of settling down with the press, “ Magnolia coach Meredith Pilant said. “They were able to handle the ball a little better. We did a better job of boxing out and rebounding in the second half.

In the first half, we gave up too many offensive rebounds and let them get too many second chances. We were able to fight our way back with boxing out and holding them to one shot. We just couldn’t keep going. We’d make a nice run and then make some silly mistakes or have a costly turnover that ended up being costly every time.”

Also scoring for the Blue Eagles was Holland Estep with four points on two baskets, Leneica Grim with four points and Makia Litton with a basket for two points.