“Westfield’s big advantage is their size. We knew we had to come in and play bigger than we were,” Sherman head coach Emily Eckwahl said. “We are young, we don’t have any seniors. The mental game is as much of this as the physical game is right now. They are learning the game, trusting each other and trusting the systems that are in place.”

The victory added some intrigue to the top of the league standings as the teams began their second run through the schedule. The Wildcats improved to 5-7 overall and 4-2 in the league while the Wolverines were handed their first loss of the season, falling to 10-1 overall and 5-1 in the league.

“Our team’s slogan is: ‘Do the work.’ … This is a good challenge for us coming off of a loss. … I personally think we still got better from this loss,” first-year Westfield head coach Kyle Petersen said. ” … Sherman has a phenomenal program. They broke our 10-game run, but I don’t think it really hurts our motivation to keep pushing for this season.”

Emmersen Crawford led Sherman with 11 points to go along with seven rebounds and two steals while Jayne Chambers had 7 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Mackenzie Schumaker had 8 points for Westfield, which finished just 5 of 40 from the field in the game.

Westfield’s Nahlia Douglas drives to the basket between Sherman’s Carlie Gable, left, and Bria Palmatier during Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 girls basketball action on Thursday. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“We still had a lot of open looks. They definitely played a lot tighter defense. It was just one of those nights the shots didn’t go in,” Petersen said. ” … All year long we’ve shot pretty well. This was one of the first nights that we kind of struggled trying to find a way to put the ball in the hoop.”

The Wolverines led 3-2 after the opening eight minutes as Schumaker’s 3-pointer on her team’s third possession of the game was the only field goal. The Wildcats went 0 of 15 from the floor, including 0 of 11 from 3-point range in the opening period.

“We allowed them to spread us that much. Usually, we can drain a couple and get a little bit of a cushion,” Eckwahl said. “Once we started getting some post touches, it started opening some things up for the shooters, and then we could get a little bit more in the middle.”

Westfield’s lead grew to 6-2 on another Schumaker 3-pointer early in the second quarter, but Crawford answered with a circus three-point play and Carlie Gable followed with a bucket to give Sherman a 7-6 lead.

The Wildcats would never trail again. They led 12-7 at halftime and 24-14 after three quarters before winning by 14.

Westfield’s Olivia Wolfe drives through Sherman’s Emmersen Crawford for a layup attempt during CCAA Division 2 action in Westfield on Thursday. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“We always say defense travels. Everything that we do stems from our defensive effort,” Eckwahl said. “It’s taken a while to get everything to click, but people are starting to get in the right places.”

The Wolverines will play three games next week, including league matches against Brocton and Chautauqua Lake. Sherman will host league games against Clymer and Brocton.

“We still had the bitter taste of a loss that we took at our place against them,” Eckwahl said of a five-point defeat to the Wolverines in Sherman’s third game of the season. “We definitely came in feeling like we had something to prove and that we’ve grown a lot since we saw them in the beginning of December.”

“It was definitely a tough game,” Petersen said of Thursday’s game. “The first one was tough and we knew going into it that this one would be another slug fest in a phone booth.”

NOTES: Gable had 7 points, four rebounds and three steals while Madison Emory had a team-high three assists for Sherman, which shot 12 of 44 from the field, including 3 of 22 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 21 times. … Schumaker had seven steals and six rebounds; Olivia Wolfe had four steals and two assists; and Nahlia Douglas had six rebounds for Westfield, which went 2 of 17 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 20 times.

SHERMAN (34)

Gable 3 0 7, Emory 0 1 1, Chambers 2 3 7, Crawford 4 3 11, Palmatier 1 0 2, Kranz 0 0 0, Oehlbeck 2 0 6, Irwin 0 0 0. Totals 12 7 34.

WESTFIELD (20)

Douglas 1 2 4, Corbett 0 0 0, SWolfe 0 2 2, Burgess 0 2 2, Weingart 1 1 3, OWolfe 0 1 1, Cupp 0 0 0, Schumaker 3 0 8. Totals 5 8 20.

3-point goals–Schumaker 2.

Sherman 2 10 12 10 — 34

Westfield 3 4 7 6 — 20