Westland High School girls basketball player Christina Simpson has shown the will to do what is best for the team.

The 5-foot-6 Simpson began the season as a guard, but she also has been both a post player and wing player in coach Hugo Quint’s schemes.

“Playing the post makes me have to learn new moves inside to get around players,” Simpson said. “I like the position. It’s helping me become a better all-around player.”

Before playing Thomas Worthington on Feb. 3, Simpson led the team by scoring 12.8 points per game. She had scored in double figures in the previous six games.

The sophomore scored a season-high 27 points in a 64-15 win Nov. 29 over Linden-McKinley.

“Christina is a hard-nosed kid,” Quint said. “She probably gets half of her baskets off rebounds. Going in to get the rebounds, she may not get the basket, but she gets fouled and knocks down the free throws. She is what we used to have. On our squad of 15 kids, we used to have nine of those kids who could do that. She’s that type of kid.”

Westland was 6-11 overall and 2-9 in the OCC-Central Division before playing Thomas, and was coming off a 53-36 win over Worthington Kilbourne on Jan. 27. Tanesha Dixon scored 13 points and Simpson added 12.

“We’ve worked very hard on our half-court defense and we took away a few things that they did the last time, and they had trouble scoring from other areas in their offense,” said Quint, whose team lost to the Wolves 37-23 on Dec. 16.

Westland’s other league win came against Thomas, 64-54 on Dec. 20.

“From the beginning of the year to now, we’re 10 times better and more of a team than we’ve ever been,” Simpson said.

Along with Simpson, Quint expects sophomores Dixon and Rachelle Marcum to lead the Cougars over the next two seasons.

“In the big picture, Christina is a third of the pie,” Quint said. “Those three sophomores are the nucleus of our program.”

Dixon, who scored a season-high 20 points in a 51-37 loss Dec. 2 to Central Crossing, is second on the team in scoring at 8.6 points per game.

Quint also said Taylor Horn, the lone senior in the rotation, has been a key to the team’s success and a leader for the underclassmen. She was averaging 8.4 points through 17 games.

When Quint returned to the program before last season, he emphasized the importance of offseason training, including participating in AAU basketball.

Simpson, who doesn’t participate in another sport at Westland, played for the Ohio Lady Hoopsters last year and expects to play with Dixon on the Ohio Lady Force during offseason.

•The boys basketball team entered its game with Thomas on Friday, Feb. 3, looking to end a two-game losing streak that followed four consecutive wins.

The Cougars lost to Kilbourne 55-50 on Jan. 27. Westland fell behind by as many as 20 points in the third quarter.

J.J. Smith led the Cougars with 11 points.

“We got off to a very sluggish start at Kilbourne,” coach Todd Parker said. “We dug a hole that was just too big to get out of. Give Kilbourne credit, they came out and punched us right in the mouth.”

Westland will play host to Upper Arlington on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The Cougars lost to UA 61-53 on Jan. 3.

Before Feb. 3, UA led the league at 9-1, followed by Dublin Coffman, Hilliard Davidson, Thomas and Kilbourne (all 6-4), Westland (5-5), Hilliard Darby (2-9) and Central Crossing (0-10).

“UA is at the top of the league for a reason,” Parker said.

“They shoot the ball well, execute their offenses and play great defense. We will need to play our best to beat them.”

The Cougars will close the regular season with games at Darby on Friday, Feb. 10, and Central Crossing on Feb. 17.