Lady 'Cats gain 1st win of season
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — Monday night belonged to the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats. In their first game back, in the new year, the Lady 'Cats controlled the tempo and second-half scoring for a 57-39 Southern Hills League win over Highland County rival Fairfield. The win was their first of the season.
"Our girls have worked hard, so it was nice to get them a win," WHS head coach Mike Cooper said. "They came out, played hard and stepped up in the second half and in the fourth quarter when we could have bolted. Fairfield cut it back to six points, but we went on a run and finished it from there."
Both teams entered the game winless on the season, but a 23-point fourth quarter helped WHS keep their lead for the final eight minutes.
WHS (1-4, 1-8) had two players finish in double figures, with Jessie Gilliland scoring a team-high 19 points and Haley Bingamon finishing with 17.
Gilliland scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half, including nine points in the final quarter. She finished 7-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Bingamon sank four 3-pointers, with three coming in the second half.
After halftime ended with WHS leading 22-14, both teams kept the third quarter close with WHS outscoring the Lady Lions, 12-10.
"We just got out of control," FHS head coach Matt Hodson said. "We dribbled to the corner too many times, instead of doing what we practiced all week. We just went scatterbrained a little bit."
The third began with Bingamon knocking down a 3-pointer to lift the Lady 'Cats' lead to 11 points. The points were exceeded with five straight points, on three different trips to the FHS basket by Megan Sword. Sword led all scorers with a game-high 22 points. Sword scored 14 of her 22 points in the final two quarters, including eight points in the third.
"Megan has been our scorer all year. Ever since we lost Chelsey Riddle (due to injury), she's stepped up and took over the scoring and rebounding for us. She had six rebounds (Monday), and she's stepped up her game a lot. She's been sick for a couple weeks, fighting the flu, and she's definitely the leader of our team."
At the 3:08 mark of the third, Gilliland converted from beyond the arc, followed shortly by two free throws to give the Lady 'Cats a 29-21 advantage with 1:54 left in the quarter.
Following the Gilliland free throws, Bingamon and Sword each made 3-pointers and Bailey Walker, with the assist from Lizz Carson, added two points, putting WHS up 10 points (34-24), for the final points of the quarter.
Then came the final eight minutes, as each team had their largest scoring quarters of the game.
Fairfield (0-4, 0-8) started with a jumper by Kortney Paris, along with two points by Tiffany Woods, who sank a jumper from the corner with 6:52 left in the game. In between the points by FHS was a layup by Ashley Crone.
At the 5:51 mark of the fourth, Bingamon sank a 3-pointer, putting the Lady 'Cats up 11 points.
Carson put WHS up 12 points later in the quarter with two points.
Gilliland went on a 7-2 run of her own late in the fourth, including a jumper with 3:11 left in regulation. Bingamon turned it into a 9-2 WHS run with a put-back basket for a 50-33 lead.
WHS finished the game by making six of the final eight free-throw attempts. Those attempts were converted by Gilliland, Bingamon, Carson and McKenzee Martin.
"I think we forced a few turnovers. I think we handled pressure better than we have earlier in the year, and (Monday) it came down to executing and making shots when we needed to," Cooper said.
It took the teams some time to warm up with their shooting after the winter break with the first quarter ending at 7-3 in favor of WHS. Carson, Lori Bratton and Bingamon all scored in the opening quarter for the Lady 'Cats. All three FHS points were scored by Sword.
In the second quarter, all but five Lady Lion points were scored from the free-throw line. FHS was 6-of-13 from the foul line in the second quarter.
During the same quarter WHS only attempted one free throw as they scored a total of 15 points. Bratton and Gilliland each had three points in the quarter, along with Bingamon and Walker adding to the lead. Walker finished with six points. In the second frame, Fairfield's Courtney Huff sank a 3-pointer. Also scoring in the second for FHS was Paris, Sword, Tiffany Woods and Shelby Smithson
For the game, WHS was 13-of-21 from the free-throw line for 62 percent, while FHS was 11-of-30 for 37 percent.
"We hit them when we needed to," Cooper said on his team's performance from the free-throw line. "We talked to the girls coming in and working on their own, and sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. When you send Jessie, Haley and Lizz to the line, that is who we want at the end."
With 12 games left in the regular season, Hodson talked about what his team needs to do to improve throughout the remainder of the season.
"We need to take care of the basketball," he said. "We had 25 turnovers, 17 at halftime. You turn the ball over, it doesn't matter who you are playing, you give them the opportunity to score and they will beat you.
"The girls gave effort, and they played all four quarters of basketball."
The win lifts WHS to 1-8 overall, while FHS falls to 0-8 on the season.
The Lady Lions play their next game on Thursday as they will travel to Fayetteville at 6 p.m. Whiteoak will host Ripley on Thursday at 6 p.m. Both will be SHL games.[[In-content Ad]]
"Our girls have worked hard, so it was nice to get them a win," WHS head coach Mike Cooper said. "They came out, played hard and stepped up in the second half and in the fourth quarter when we could have bolted. Fairfield cut it back to six points, but we went on a run and finished it from there."
Both teams entered the game winless on the season, but a 23-point fourth quarter helped WHS keep their lead for the final eight minutes.
WHS (1-4, 1-8) had two players finish in double figures, with Jessie Gilliland scoring a team-high 19 points and Haley Bingamon finishing with 17.
Gilliland scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half, including nine points in the final quarter. She finished 7-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Bingamon sank four 3-pointers, with three coming in the second half.
After halftime ended with WHS leading 22-14, both teams kept the third quarter close with WHS outscoring the Lady Lions, 12-10.
"We just got out of control," FHS head coach Matt Hodson said. "We dribbled to the corner too many times, instead of doing what we practiced all week. We just went scatterbrained a little bit."
The third began with Bingamon knocking down a 3-pointer to lift the Lady 'Cats' lead to 11 points. The points were exceeded with five straight points, on three different trips to the FHS basket by Megan Sword. Sword led all scorers with a game-high 22 points. Sword scored 14 of her 22 points in the final two quarters, including eight points in the third.
"Megan has been our scorer all year. Ever since we lost Chelsey Riddle (due to injury), she's stepped up and took over the scoring and rebounding for us. She had six rebounds (Monday), and she's stepped up her game a lot. She's been sick for a couple weeks, fighting the flu, and she's definitely the leader of our team."
At the 3:08 mark of the third, Gilliland converted from beyond the arc, followed shortly by two free throws to give the Lady 'Cats a 29-21 advantage with 1:54 left in the quarter.
Following the Gilliland free throws, Bingamon and Sword each made 3-pointers and Bailey Walker, with the assist from Lizz Carson, added two points, putting WHS up 10 points (34-24), for the final points of the quarter.
Then came the final eight minutes, as each team had their largest scoring quarters of the game.
Fairfield (0-4, 0-8) started with a jumper by Kortney Paris, along with two points by Tiffany Woods, who sank a jumper from the corner with 6:52 left in the game. In between the points by FHS was a layup by Ashley Crone.
At the 5:51 mark of the fourth, Bingamon sank a 3-pointer, putting the Lady 'Cats up 11 points.
Carson put WHS up 12 points later in the quarter with two points.
Gilliland went on a 7-2 run of her own late in the fourth, including a jumper with 3:11 left in regulation. Bingamon turned it into a 9-2 WHS run with a put-back basket for a 50-33 lead.
WHS finished the game by making six of the final eight free-throw attempts. Those attempts were converted by Gilliland, Bingamon, Carson and McKenzee Martin.
"I think we forced a few turnovers. I think we handled pressure better than we have earlier in the year, and (Monday) it came down to executing and making shots when we needed to," Cooper said.
It took the teams some time to warm up with their shooting after the winter break with the first quarter ending at 7-3 in favor of WHS. Carson, Lori Bratton and Bingamon all scored in the opening quarter for the Lady 'Cats. All three FHS points were scored by Sword.
In the second quarter, all but five Lady Lion points were scored from the free-throw line. FHS was 6-of-13 from the foul line in the second quarter.
During the same quarter WHS only attempted one free throw as they scored a total of 15 points. Bratton and Gilliland each had three points in the quarter, along with Bingamon and Walker adding to the lead. Walker finished with six points. In the second frame, Fairfield's Courtney Huff sank a 3-pointer. Also scoring in the second for FHS was Paris, Sword, Tiffany Woods and Shelby Smithson
For the game, WHS was 13-of-21 from the free-throw line for 62 percent, while FHS was 11-of-30 for 37 percent.
"We hit them when we needed to," Cooper said on his team's performance from the free-throw line. "We talked to the girls coming in and working on their own, and sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. When you send Jessie, Haley and Lizz to the line, that is who we want at the end."
With 12 games left in the regular season, Hodson talked about what his team needs to do to improve throughout the remainder of the season.
"We need to take care of the basketball," he said. "We had 25 turnovers, 17 at halftime. You turn the ball over, it doesn't matter who you are playing, you give them the opportunity to score and they will beat you.
"The girls gave effort, and they played all four quarters of basketball."
The win lifts WHS to 1-8 overall, while FHS falls to 0-8 on the season.
The Lady Lions play their next game on Thursday as they will travel to Fayetteville at 6 p.m. Whiteoak will host Ripley on Thursday at 6 p.m. Both will be SHL games.[[In-content Ad]]