Foul trouble, turnovers cost Lady 'Cats

     MOWRYSTOWN – Turnovers, foul trouble and a big second quarter by the North Adams Lady Green Devils was enough to stop the Whiteoak Lady ‘Cats Thursday night, with NAHS defeating WHS 71-52 at Whiteoak High School.

     Whiteoak (0-1, 0-3) was torched by the Lady Green Devils in the second quarter as NAHS outscored the Lady ‘Cats 26-12.

     “We had one starter injured and wasn’t able to play, and three others had at least three fouls. So at one point we had four regular starters on the bench,” Whiteoak head coach Steve Smith said. “Overall the girls played hard and had excellent effort.”

     WHS led after the opening eight minutes at 11-8, but North Adams forced multiple turnovers and gained second chance opportunities with timely offensive rebounding inside the paint in the second quarter.

     But in the first, WHS senior Kristen Seip made a 3-pointer to put WHS ahead at 3-1.

     The Lady ‘Cats began the second with put back points by sophomore Marissa Bohl. After North Adams cut the lead down to 13-12, WHS sophomore Brooke Burns was found wide-open underneath the basket with an assist by Bohl to increase the Lady ‘Cats advantage to 15-12.

     “Marissa (Bohl) came in the first half and was a big plus for us,” Smith said.

     NAHS (1-0, 3-0) rallied in the middle stages of the second with two free throws by sophomore Allison Sparks, followed with freshman Emily Fite tying the game at 17 with a free throw. Fite ended the game with 18 points, going 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. Sparks scored 10 points with a 4 of 5 effort in free throw shooting.

     The Lady ‘Cats came right back with buckets from Bohl and junior Brittany Waits for a 23-17 lead with 2:51 left in the first half.

     Then things unraveled for WHS as the Lady Devils went on an 16-0 scoring run in a span of 2:30 to end the quarter and take a 34-23 lead. The run consisted of Fite putting up inside points, followed with senior Karli Beasley knocking down a 3-pointer. She then stole the ensuing possession by WHS, taking it to the hoop to give the Lady Devils a 24-23 lead.

     The Lady Devils never relinquished the top spot for the rest of the game.

     After the points from Beasley, NAHS sophomore Laynee Davis contributed with a jumper, followed with more points by Beasley. Sparks and Beasley ended the quarter with three more baskets, as Beasley ended the quarter with a turnaround jumper.

     Beasley led all scorers with 19 points. The senior made seven shots from the field, one 3-pointer and was 2 of 2 from the free-throw line. She also forced multiple turnovers.

     “In my opinion (Karli) Beasley is the best player in the league,” Smith said. “She played a good game against us.”

     The scoring run by NAHS continued into the third quarter with Beasley banking in a bucket. Seip halted the scoring streak by the Lady Devils by making 1 of 2 free throws with 6:26 left in the quarter. Seip finished with eight points.

     WHS senior Emily Hargett, who led WHS with a team-high 13 points, brought the Lady ‘Cats within 10 points, scoring tough inside points. Seip followed with her second 3-pointer with 5:26 left in the quarter.

     Near the 3:00 mark of the third junior Liz Carson made a 3-point shot to cut the NAHS lead to six points.

     NAHS started off the final quarter with eight consecutive points to increase their lead to 60-40.

     WHS junior Haley Bingamon drained a 3-pointer with 2:54 left in the game, and made another at the 28 second mark of the final quarter. Bingamon finished with 10 points.

     Whiteoak sophomore Jessie Gilliland made two jumpers in the quarter.

     “North Adams is the best team in the league, in either division,” Smith said. “We played with them for most of the game. We got a lot of contribution from a lot of our players. I am never pleased with a loss, but I was pleased with the effort.”

     WHS will play again Monday, Dec. 7 as they travel to face Fayetteville in a SHL contest with JV starting at 6 p.m.

BOX SCORE

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NAHS – 8 26 18 19 – 71

WHS – 11 12 17 12 – 52

INDIVIDUAL STATS

NAHS (71)

C.Pertuest 2 4-6 8, C.Wiggington 3 6, L.Davis 1 2, K.Beasley 7 (1) 2-2 19, E.Fite 5 8-10 18, D.Copas 1 0-2 2, A.Sparks 3 4-5 10, C.Downs 1 2-2 4, A.Debord 1 2. TOTALS: 23 (1) 20-27 71.

WHS (52)

J.Gilliland 2 4, M.Bohl 3 0-2 6, H.Bingamon 2 (2) 10, L.Carson 1 (1) 5, B.Burns 2 4, E.Hargett 6 1-4 13, B.Waits 1 2. TOTALS: 17 (5) 3-10 52.