Lady Wildcats take down Hawks, 49-43
Hardin Valley — Hardin Valley Academy’s girls basketball team found itself in a precarious position at halftime in its game against Oak Ridge Friday night.
In a battle between two
of the area’s youngest teams, the Lady Hawks faced a 16-point deficit after the second quarter.
They battled but came up short in a 49-43 District 4-4A loss to Oak Ridge at HVA.
“We did a good job digging ourselves a nice hole but we almost got out of it,” Lady Hawks’ coach Jennifer Galloway said.
The game was tightly-contested in the first quarter with the Lady Wildcats (6-10 overall, 3-3 in the district) clinging to a slim 10-7 advantage, but Oak Ridge went on a tear in the second stanza as it used a 21-8 run to extend its lead to 31-15 by halftime.
The Lady Wildcats were hot after the break and led 38-18 and appeared to be headed to an easy victory midway through the third quarter but the Lady Hawks (9-10, 2-4) had other ideas.
Hardin Valley made three 3-pointers in the third frame and clawed its way back into the contest and had the deficit down to 39-28 when Gracie Edwards knocked down a long-range jumper with 13.8 seconds remaining in the period.
Oak Ridge built its advantage back up to 43-30 by the end of the period.
The Lady Wildcats scored first in the fourth quarter as Evaiya Mitchell converted a midrange jumper with 6 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the contest.
The Lady Hawks made a push and they would pull to within 45-38 when Holly Lindsey converted a 3-point field goal with 1:57 to go.
Lindsey scored eight of her team-high 13 points and made a pair of 3-pointers over the final eight minutes of the contest.
Even in defeat, Galloway couldn’t complain about her team’s effort.
“These girls never quit,” she said. “They never give up and that’s one thing I appreciate about this team.”
Mitchell and Jenayah Pippins scored 14 points each for the Lady Wildcats.
Oak Ridge first-year coach Kevin Tubbs was pleased to see his team capture a victory while overcoming some self-inflicted adversity.
“We had a great first half and about three minutes in the third quarter,” Tubbs said. “I think we relaxed on defense and had six straight possessions of bad shots or bad passes.
“What I take from the game (is) that a district win on the road is huge. We are starting to have an identity and play better as a group. It’s exciting to watch them get better as a team in each and every game.”
