Shooting woes late lead to SCC loss
The Lady Mustang basketball team showed what defense can do if it’s played correctly during a game in the South Central Conference. The girls held Knoxville to 54 points in last week’s game on Jan. 17. Unfortunately, that didn’t lead to a victory for the lady Mustangs as they lost 54-44 and fell to 3-7 in conference play.
Coach Jeff Graves is all about playing good solid defense. He has said manty times that if his teams can hold teams to under 60 points in a game, chances of winning those games is pretty high.
The Lady Mustangs put together one of those solid defensive performances last week against a good shooting Knoxville team. Davis County even put itself in a position to take the lead and even win the game, but offensive shooting just didn’t cooperate when the girls needed it the most.
Even so, the Lady Mustangs battled from start to finish and played their hearts out in terms of effort in this game.
“I thought our zone defense really moved well last night and did a good job of challenging shots on the three-point line,” said Graves about his team’s defense during this game last week.
Davis County held a slim lead just twice in this game. The girls went up 3-0 when Reese Humphrey hit a three-pointer from the wing just eight seconds into the game. Humphrey later completed a traditional three-point play to tie the game at 6-6. Shortly after that, Ella Porter hit a shot in the paint to put Davis County up 8-6 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. That was the last time Davis County held the lead in this game
Knoxville answered Porter’s shot with three straight three-pointers on the next few trips down the court. The Lady Mustangs picked up scores from Kennedy Skaggs, Kaitlin Olinger and Sophia young and they worked to keep the Panthers close on the scoreboard.
Knoxville put together another run in the second quarter that helped them build up a lead again. A three-pointer from Skaggs with time running out brought Davis County to within a 29-19 deficit during the break.
Defensively pressure led to easy scores for Davis County as the second half began. Sophia Young scored a couple of times on fast breaks following turnovers. The effort cut Knoxville’s lead to six points midway through the third quarter. Young converted on another score as she single-handedly brought Davis County back by scoring the first eight points of the second half.
Jalee Lough added a traditional three-point play with 1:57 left in the quarter that cut the Knoxville lead to 33-30.
Davis County just couldn’t get over the hump and get the scores they needed in this game to turn things around.
“I know it sounds simple, but we shot very poorly and yet we were in the ballgame. We are doing so many things well, but when we are cold, we are very cold. Shooting 20 percent but yet still in the ballgame. Senior night on Friday,” said Graves
Getting shots to fall became a struggle late in the third quarter and throughout the rest of the game. In fact, almost all of Davis County’s scoring over a 12 minute period in the third and fourth quarters came from the free-throw line. Young, Lough and Humphrey led that effort by hitting several of those free throws at crucial times.
Knoxville took advantage of the cold shooting by Davis County to extend its lead. At one point during the fourth quarter, the Panthers were back up by 13 points. Davis County continued to pester the Panthers with defense and rebounding.
A three-point play by Humphrey and a three-pointer from Jalee Lough with 1:49 left to play cut the Panthers lead to nine. The two teams traded scores in the final minute as Knoxville held on to win the game by 10.
Score by quarters
DC 12 19 39 44
KN 18 29 33 54
Scoring—Young, 11; Humphrey, 11; Lough, 8; Skaggs, 7; Kaitlin Olinger, 3; Ella Porter, 2 and Charley Barnhart, 2.
Rebounds—Laynee Moore, 7; Barnhart, 6; Young, 5; Olinger, 5; Lough, 4; Skaggs, 4; Humphrey, 2; Porter, 4.
Assists—Humphrey, 2; Lough, 2; Young, 1; and Barnhart, 1.
Steals—Young, 4; Humphrey, 3; Lough, 1; Skaggs, 1 and Olinger, 1.
Blocks—Porter, 1.
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