Heatherly adds to 1,000-point total, but Webb 4Q run sinks CAK girls
KNOXVILLE — By her own admission, Webb School of Knoxville girls basketball head coach Shelley Collier was a bit troubled by her team’s free throw shooting heading into a key region game against rival Christian Academy of Knoxville.
But she had to feel better after watching her team nab a 53-45 win over the Lady Warriors on the road.
Webb [11-8 overall, 3-0 in Division II-A East/Middle play] made some clutch free throws down the stretch, converting 20 of 26 overall.
“That’s something that has been a concern for us,” Collier said of her team’s trouble at the line. “We haven’t been making our free throws but we made them tonight.”
For three quarters, the game was a tight roller-coaster ride as the Lady Warriors [14-6, 2-1] and Lady Spartans slugged through a low-scoring contest, controlled by both defenses.
Lady Warrior Claire Brock scored 10 of her team-high 17 points in the second quarter, helping CAK open a 20-16 lead by halftime.
But Webb’s 13-0 run during a five minute stretch of the fourth quarer put the game away at 44-31, capped with a Casey Collier free throw at the 1:29 mark.
Casey Collier led all scorers with 20 points. She had nine in the final frame and was 6-for-9 from the foul line over the last eight minutes.
She got some help from Haylee Luttrell, who finished with 12 points. That included going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe.
Casey Collier also had five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Luttrell finished with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Catherine Hendershott, a Lady Spartans freshman, scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and had three steals.
“We’re all pretty excited,” Casey Collier said. “We expected to come in here and win this game.
“But we’ve been struggling to make our free throws and our lay-ups. But tonight, we made them and that was the difference.”
Amber Heatherly, Lady Warriors senior guard who scored her 1,000th career point against Cleveland in a holiday tournament game in December, finished with 16 points.
“We need to come out with the mindset that we’re going to be ready to play,” she said. “They’re a very good team, and now that we know how physical they are I think we’ll do better.”
