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| Early hole proves too deep for Lady Chargers |
By: Stephanie Sturgis - Press Sports Editor
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Posted: Tuesday, February 3, 2009 3:16 pm
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Three on One — Lady Chargers (from left) Caitlin Campbell, Amber Rechis and Jacey Sims close in on Gibson County's Heather Butler in the last minute of Westview's 58-54 loss on Friday night.
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For the second time this season, the Westview Lady Chargers found themselves in a halftime hole against the undefeated Gibson County Lady Pioneers. The final result was the same as the first contest, a WHS rally fell short. Gibson County, the No. 3 team in Class AA, didn't need overtime this outing on the way to a 58-54 win.
In the boys contest, Westview's cold shooting touch resulted in a 15-point first-quarter deficit. The Chargers' Jacob Lloyd got hot and poured in 31 points as Westview's uptempo pace ultimately wore down the Pioneers for a 67-54 WHS win.
In the girls game, the contest was close early, before the Lady Chargers, ranked fifth in the state's Class AA polls, put together a 9-1 run to nab a 13-7 lead on a backdoor cut for a layup by Amber Rechis. Grace Ann Swaim earned the assist with 1:25 left in the quarter. During the run, GC's Aubrey Reedy picked up her second foul and landed on the bench for the final 3:06 of the quarter.
From there, Gibson County's defense tightened, forcing consecutive WHS turnovers to cut the lead to 13-11 after a frame. Heather Griffin keyed the effort with seven points and a strong showing on the boards.
"We didn't do a good job on the boards. Their posts had 17 rebounds and our three post players combined for nine rebounds," WHS head coach Sean Stephenson said.
Griffin kept up her effort in the second quarter, earning a 3-point play on the first possession to put GC on top 14-13.
Westview evened the score at 17-all when Breanna Pitcher hit a 6-footer at the end of a break with 6:10 left in the first half.
Then, just as happened in the first meeting, the Pioneer pressure caused problems for Westview. The Lady Chargers had five turnovers in the final five minutes of the half. GC took advantage to finish the half on a 14-7 run. While Griffin pounded the boards, notching six points in the quarter, the Lady Pioneers found the range from 3-land, connecting four times. Heather Butler notched two treys as Gibson County enjoyed a 31-24 halftime advantage.
"We didn't quit, but we've got to play with more sense of urgency in the first half. We get in a hole and say 'Oh no.' We've got to get a sense of urgency and get aggressive earlier. We can't dig ourselves a hole every time," Stephenson said.
Reedy notched the first hoop of the third quarter to bump the GC lead to nine, but Westview clawed back within two, 35-33, on a Pitcher free throw with 4:43 left in the third. GC bounced back by getting Swaim in foul trouble and hitting 8-of-10 free throws in the third, part of a 7-2 run to finish the frame.
Leading 42-35 heading into the fourth frame, a Butler pull-up jumper again stretched the Gibson County lead to nine, 44-35, to start the scoring.
A Rechis spin move resulted in a 3-point play to cut the gap to six. Sara Olds drilled a trey on a fastbreak to trim the Pioneer lead to three, 44-41. From there, Gibson County maintained a three- to six-point edge.
Rechis took things in her own hands in the fourth, pouring in 14 points in the quarter. With 19 seconds left, a Rechis 3-pointer sliced the deficit to two, 54-52.
Gibson County countered at the free-throw line, with Butler and Reedy both nailing two charity shots in the final 17 seconds on the way to the 58-54 victory. GC was perfect on all nine free-throw attempts in the final 86 seconds.
Rechis topped all scorers with 25 points for WHS, while Griffin had 21 points and Butler added 20 for Gibson County.
In the boys game, Gibson County blazed out of the blocks, while the host Chargers struggled from the field in the opening minutes. Before Westview could blink, it trailed 19-4 with 2:34 left in the opening quarter.
Westview got a spark from the bench when freshman Will Thompson provided a presence in the paint with rebounds and four points. Thompson saw increased minutes due to Khorie Johnson's knee injury.
By the end of the first quarter, WHS had trimmed its deficit to nine points at 19-10.
Charger Jacob Lloyd got hot in the second quarter and never cooled down. Lloyd put in 10 points in the second quarter to fuel Westview to a 33-29 halftime lead.
Lloyd added 10 more points in the third and nine in the fourth as the Chargers stretched their lead to 51-41 at the end of three on the way to the 67-54 win.
Jan. 30 at Martin
GIRLS
Gibson County (58) — Heather Griffin 21, Heather Butler 20, Jeniqua Jennings 6, Aubrey Reedy 6, Erica Schlessinger 5.
Westview (54) — Amber Rechis 25, Grace Ann Swaim 6, Sara Olds 6, Jacey Sims 5, Caitlin Campbell 5, Breanna Pitcher 4, Amber Nanney 3.
3-pointers: Gibson County — Butler (2), Jennings, Schlessinger; Westview — Rechis (2), Olds, Nanney.
Records: Gibson County 21-0 (9-0 District 13-AA), Westview 21-2 (5-2 District 13-AA).
BOYS
Gibson County (54) — Terrance Rodgers 16, Davonte Watson 12, Josh Reaves 8, Ralph Mesagana 8, John Lee 6, Mark Roach 2, Will Holloman 2.
Westview (67) — Jacob Lloyd 31, Davell Lloyd 16, Cameron Boyd 9, Will Thompson 4, Reid Cates 3, Dillon Gardner 2, Garrett Vincent 2.
3-pointers: Gibson County — Rodgers (2), Watson. Lee; Westview — J. Lloyd (5), Cates, D. Lloyd.
Records: Gibson County 7-12 (2-7 District 13-AA), Westview 18-5 (6-1 District 13-AA).
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