Bonham shines as Riverdale blows by Kenton

By SEAN BLEVINS

Times sports editor

Marissa Bonham finished with 19 points, nine steals and seven rebounds as Riverdale scored the first 17 points of the game and cruised to a 51-23 win at Kenton Monday night in nonconference girls basketball play.

A disastrous start doomed the Wildcats (4-13) as they suffered their fifth straight loss and their 12th in the last 13 games since leading scorer Sidney Payne suffered a torn ACL.

Kenton turned the ball over 13 times and nine of those were steals by Bonham, who wasn’t too far off from a triple-double. Bonham had four steals that led to buckets in the second quarter.

“I think we were able to get out in transition a little bit,” Riverdale coach Drew Bostic said. “It’s always good to score first. That’s part of our message: score first, score next, score last.”

Riverdale was 19/47 (40%) from the field, while Kenton went just 6/38 (16%). The Wildcats made six of their 18 triples, though, and Bostic wasn’t pleased with his team’s close outs in the first half.

“I wasn’t really happy with our defense in the first half with the shooters. We gave up 15 points and all of them were from threes. I didn’t think we were closing out well. We were jumping passes. This wasn’t the style of defense that we saw last Thursday. I thought in the second half we did a better job of closing out,” Bostic said.

Lauren McBride chipped in 12 points for Riverdale. Claire Inbody recorded eight points and 12 rebounds. Annalese Woodruff tallied five points. Kenzie Furr netted four points, and Faith Schlarb had three.

“It’s nice to see different people step up every game. We haven’t really seen everyone be on the same page all in one night. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We have a lot of role players around them that get their share. Bonham had a big game tonight with 19. Thacker had a huge game where she put up 14 against Arcadia. Then you have nights like tonight where Lauren [McBride] has 12. That’s the beauty of our team. Somebody finds a way to get it done every night,” Bostic said.

Riverdale could do no wrong in the first quarter as they raced out to a 17-0 lead with everyone contributing.

Kenton’s Lyla Gammon knocked down a triple with 1:03 left in the first quarter to halt the 17-0 run. Riverdale led 17-3 after one.

Kenton hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, but was still outscored 18-12 in the frame.

Kenton’s Emori Criner buried back-to-back treys late in the first half to cut it to 33-15. The Falcons held a 35-15 edge at the break.

Riverdale outpaced Kenton 13-5 in the third quarter to stretch their lead to 48-20.

Bonham hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, then nobody scored for almost five minutes. Kenton’s Brylee Bostelman drilled a triple with 3:20 left in the game, and it was a 51-23 final.

Criner paced Kenton with seven points. Jazlynn Long scored six points. Jadynn Byers added four points. Gammon and Bostelman both had three points.

Next up, Kenton plays at Wapakoneta at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Riverdale has a pivotal Blanchard Valley Conference tilt when they host Liberty-Benton at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Eagles can clinch the outright BVC title with a win and the Falcons can secure a share by winning their final two league games.