| Lady Panther defense keeps G'field in check |
By: Stephanie Sturgis - Press Sports Editor
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Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:44 pm
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First Place — The Martin Middle School Lady Panthers girls basketball team took the first-place plaque in the Weakley County Tournament thanks to a 40-27 victory over the Greenfield Lady Yellowjackets Thursday night in Greenfield.
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The Martin Middle School Lady Panthers used a vise-tight defense to frustrate the Greenfield Junior High Lady Yellowjackets in the 2008 Weakley County Tournament championship game Thursday night in Greenfield.
As a result, top-seeded Martin claimed its second consecutive county title, winning by a 40-27 margin over Greenfield, the No. 2 seed entering the tourney.
Martin repeatedly kept the ball out of the hands of Lady Jacket point guard Emily Allen. Without Allen running the show, Greenfield's offense struggled to find a rhythm. The Lady Panthers also used their size advantage for a rebounding edge.
Both teams struggled to find the range in the first quarter. Lady Jacket Hannah Moseley grabbed a rare offensive rebound and drilled a jumper from the free-throw line to open scoring at the 4:42 mark of the first frame. A minute later, two free throws from Martin's Kendall Leyhue knotted the score at 2-2.
Kendall Leyhue rattled in a baseline three for Martin's first lead at 5-2, but GJH got an old-fashioned 3-point play from Callie Croom for a 5-all tie with three minutes left in the quarter.
The Lady Panthers outscored Greenfield 8-4 the rest of the frame for a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. MMS got four points from Kaley Leyhue and two each from Teddy Vincent and Jasmine Howard, while Moseley and Croom each tallied a basket for the Jackets.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Rachel Roberts' trey cut the GJH deficit to four, 17-13.
Vincent buried a rainbow of a 3-pointer to push Martin's lead to nine at 22-13 with 3:32 left in the half. From there, Greenfield used the free-throw line to hang close. The Lady Jackets hit 6-of-12 free throws to close out their scoring in the quarter.
Kaley Leyhue provided the final two Lady Panther points from the charity stripe for a 24-19 halftime advantage.
After the intermission, the Greenfield offense struggled, scoring just four points in each of the third and fourth quarters.
Martin's Kaley Leyhue was the lone Lady Panther to score in the third with six points to help her team to a 30-23 lead heading into the fourth quarter. In the final stanza, MMS tallied 10 points led by five from Vincent to take the 40-27 victory.
Kaley Leyhue topped all scorers with 14 points followed by 12 from Vincent for MMS. Moseley and Croom led Greenfield with nine points each.
Weakley County Tournament Championship
Dec. 11 at Greenfield
GIRLS
Greenfield (27) — Hannah Moseley 9, Callie Croom 9, Rachel Roberts 4, Emily Allen 2, , Sierra Replogle 2, Kalee Kesterson 1.
Martin (40) — Kaley Leyhue 14, Teddy Vincent 12, Kendall Leyhue 6, Jasmine Howard 4, Sam Dailey 4.
3-pointers: Greenfield — Roberts; Martin — Ka. Leyhue, Vincent, Ke. Leyhue. |
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