By Mark Carpenter-

West Union senior Mackenzie Bickett had a big night in the Lady Dragons’ win over Augusta on Jan. 5, firing in 29 points, the fifth highest total in WUHS girls history. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

If you stay close enough to the bench of the West Union Lady Dragons, you will often hear Coach J.R. Kirker use the phrase “knock it down” when one of his girls is looking at an open shot attempt. On Saturday night when the Lady Dragons hosted the Augusta Lady Panthers from the other side of the Ohio River, the home team certainly knocked down a few, tossing in eight three-point goals on their way to their fourth win of the season, knocking off Augusta 66-52.
West Union senior Mackenzie Bickett was especially “knocking em down” as she poured in 29 points, the fifth highest single game total in Lady Dragons history. Bickett also made it a double-double performance by hauling in 10 rebounds, joined in the double-double department by teammate Jaycee Baldwin,who scored 10 points and pulled down 11 boards.
“It feels very good to get a win,” said Coach Kirker after the game. “We’ve been so close in games this year only to fade in the second half , but tonight our first half was a little slow and we picked it up in the second half. I thought all our girls played well and if we can just get everyone on track at the same time I think we can win some ball games.”
After the Lady Panthers began the game with the first three points, a Bickett three-pointer tied the score and another long bomb from McKenzie Kirker gave the Lady Dragons the lead. After Augusta battled back to take a 7-6 advantage, the home team went dialing long distance again, getting treys from Harley Silvia and Bickett again to forge a 12-9 lead at the first quarter’s end.
A basket by freshman Lexie Rowe and a Bickett steal and score early in the second period gave the Lady Dragons a five-point lead but the pesky Lady Panthers stayed right in the hunt, getting their own three-pointers from Hannah Arthur and Alexis Shields to tie the game again at 20 apiece. A free throw by Arthur gave Augusta a brief one-point lead, but the Lady Dragons got a put back by Baldwin that began a 5-0 run to finish the half and send West Union to the intermission on top 27-23.
The halftime respite seemed to re-energize the Lady Dragons, especially the senior Bickett, who fired in a trio of three-point goals in the first four minutes of the third quarter as West Union extended their lead to double digits at 38-28. With 2:46 to go in the third, a Lexie Rowe free throw extended the margin to 12 points and after an Augusta trey, the Lady Dragons closed the third with a 8-0 run fueled by a Silvia three-point play, to jump out to a 52-35 lead headed to the final period.
With the big margin, all the Lady Dragons had to do in the final stanza was maintain the status quo and that they did, never letting their lead fall below 11 points. The only negative of the final eight minutes was the West Union performance at the free throw line as they hit just 6 of 15 attempts, but fortunately had a big enough lead to overcome the issues at the charity stripe. When all was said and done, however, it was the Lady Dragons claiming the win and improving to 4-8 on the year, downing the Lady Panthers by the final count of 66-52.
Bickett and Baldwin led the way on offense for the winners, with their 29 and 10 respectively, with Lexie Rowe adding 9 and Harley Silvia 8. Augusta was paced by two players in double figures, Nicole Arthur with 15 and Alexis Shields with 13.
(Update: The Lady Dragons were back on their home court on Monday night in conference play, hosting the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs. Lynchburg’s senior standout Peyton Scott scored 25 as the Lady Mustangs left Adams County with a 66-34 victory, dropping West Union to 4-9 on the season.)

Augusta
9 14 12 17 —52
West Union
12 15 25 14 —66

Augusta (52): Young 1 0-1 2, H. Arthur 1 2-4 5, Harper 0 3-4 3, N. Arthur 4 7-14 15, Kelsch 3 0-0 8, Jett 0 2-2 2, Shields 4 2-6 13, Darnell 2 0-0 4, Team 15 16-31 52.
W. Union (66): L. Rowe 2 5-13 9, Silvia 3 0-1 8, Baldwin 5 0-0 10, Bickett 9 6-10 29, Francis 0 1-2 1, Kirker 1 1-2 4, K. Rowe 2 1-4 5, Team 22 14-32 66.
Three-Point Goals:
Augusta (6)- H. Arthur 1, Kelsch 2, Shields 3
W. Union (8)- Silvia 2, Bickett 5, Kirker 1