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RH girls pull out region win
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In retrospect Head coach Wade Wright saw that the adversity his team had to overcome this past Friday to be a good thing.
With Kala Hires on the bench, ankle packed in ice, and her senior guard mate Sarah Reid nursing foul troubles it forced some of his teams underclassmen and bench players to sink or swim in the second half.
To their credit they stroked their way to a fourth period comeback and a key 43-37 region win over the Burke County Bears.
After a slow first period for both teams Hires crashed to the floor late in the period and would not be able to return. Freshman Tyler Carlson was the first one to step up.
Against the Bear zone Carlson went three for three from beyond the 3 point arc and added a two pointer in a second period dominated by the Lady Cats. Colleen Keller added a three pointer of her own and Jennifer Pellam was four for four from the free throw line as the Ladies mounted a 24-14 halftime lead. It would be the last they would see of a zone defense.
The third period saw a tenacious Bear defense and full court man to man coverage cause havoc on the Lady ball handlers and then a couple of the Richmond Hill Ladies including Sarah Reid were already in foul trouble. Reid and the injured Hires watched along with coach Wright as their ten point bulge slowly evaporated. All Wright could do was call time outs and try to settle his team down.
“We were just drawing things up trying to figure out a way to stop the bleeding” explained Wright of his teams disastrous third period.
He knew one thing, they had to stop the Bears point guard Jessica Davis, (18 points) who had scored eight points in the third period to give her team the lead 30-27.
During one of those timeouts the Lady Cats went to a box and one defense to try and slow Davis down. And even though they had never practiced the defense the strategy worked. Davis would be held to just two points in the fourth period while Richmond Hill slowly took back control of the game.
Finally Carlson,(23 points) hit another three pointer, followed by another three pointer by Reid who had finally returned to action, and Jade Crosby managed four of her seven points in the period before she fouled out to help the Cats regain the lead. With a minute and a half left the Lady wildcats had managed to take a 40-33 lead and were controlling the ball against the bear pressure much better than they did in the third period.
In Tuesdays action the Ladies let one get away against a good St. Vincents team 28-19. On Saturday they traveled to Windsor Forest and lost 31-20. The Lady cats are now 2-3 in region 3-AAA and 5-7 overall. They travel to South Effingham tomorrow night for a 6:30 start and will take on Bryan County at home on Saturday for a 7:00 p.m. start.
On Tuesday a defensive battle came down to free throw shooting. After Richmond Hill scratched their way back in the second half to pull with in two points of the Saints St. Vincents Morgan Boaen, (14 points) was sent to the line to shoot four free throws. The first two were part of a bonus foul and the next two were for a technical foul that was called on the Richmond Hill bench for the St. Vincents score keeper not having one of the Richmond Hill players listed on the score book.
In spite of coach Wrights protests Boaen made the shots and the Lady Wildcats would not recover. Technical fouls aside it was a game that had the Ladies played a little better could have won. According to coach Wright the team is preparing for the region tournament and wants to be peaking then, in a tough region it may be their only path back to the playoffs.
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