By Mark Carpenter-
It was an all-county Southern Hills Athletic Conference match up on Jan. 13 at North Adams High School as the Lady Devils welcomed to town the Manchester Lady Greyhounds. The Lady Devils were coming off a tough loss at Eastern Brown, then a rout of Whiteoak, while the Lady Hounds were also coming off a win over Whiteoak and a loss to Eastern Brown. In Monday night’s race, it was the horse that came out of the gate the fastest who went home at the end of the evening with a victory.
That horse happened to be the home team as the Lady Devils exploded on an 18-0 first quarter run and never again saw their lead drop below double digits as they handled the Lady Hounds by a final count of 49-29, improving to 11-4 on the season, 6-1 in conference play. The loss dropped Manchester to 8-6 overall, 3-5 in the conference.
“I told the girls that we would have to come out tonight with a lot of energy because Manchester has a nice squad,” said North Adams head coach Rob Davis in his radio interview. “We wanted to try and put them away early and not let them get their confidence up like they did against Eastern. I thought we just came out and executed well early.”
It was the Lady Hounds who got the first basket of Monday night’s battle on an out of bounds play that resulted in a bucket for Brooke Kennedy, but the visitors did not score again until a basket by Madison Jones with just 40 seconds left in the first quarter. In the meantime, the Lady Devils and their pressure defense took immediate control of the game and left the outcome in little double very early. A bucket by DeLaney Harper was followed by a steal by Braylie Jones that resulted in a basket for Wylie Shipley, and the home team had the lead for good.
Two more Harper baskets, plus scores from Karissa Buttelwerth, Faith Howell, and Mary Sonner were all part of the huge 18-0 run that ended only with the Jones basket for the Lady Hounds, who still found themselves staring at an 18-4 deficit after just one quarter of action.
The run extended to 20 straight when Braylie Jones opened the second quarter with a pair of free throw, but the Lady Hounds showed some sparks of life when Kennedy hit a three and then a deuce on Manchester’s first two possessions. Kennedy continued to be the only Lady Hound who seemed to be able to find the net and her two free throws with 3:29 left in the first half cut the North Adams lead to 24-13.
To push their lead back up, the Lady Devils used their trademark defensive pressure, getting back to back steals that both resulted in Braylie Jones layups and a 15-point advantage. Again, though, the Lady Hounds found some fight and ended the first half on 6-2 run that included a basket by Yasmin Lucas and two McKenzie Morrison free throws and by halftime, Manchester had sliced the gap down to a more manageable 30-19.
“I thought we should have had a bigger lead at halftime,” said Coach Davis. “We left some baskets out there and I thought we turned the ball over too much there in the second quarter, forced some things and got a little careless. We got the big lead and then kind of relaxed a little bit.”
That more manageable became much less manageable when North Adams began the third period with a 7-0 run, getting four points from Harper and a Marah Call three-pointer. Manchester’s first points of the second half came at the 4:45 mark of the third on a bucket by Lucas followed by a jumper from Hannah Hobbs. With the big lead, the Lady Devils were in no hurry and ran copious amounts of clock on each offensive possession. The final score of the third stanza came on a put back by Howell with two seconds left that kept the North Adams margin comfortable at 40-23.
Manchester opened the final quarter with an basket by Hobbs but the patient North Adams squad took the air out and let the time run, getting a Jones three-pointer on a set play and then another Shipley basket off a Manchester turnover. In the game’s final two minutes, the Lady Devils got a three-point goal from Carolyn Shupert and a stick back by Kennedy for the Lady Hounds ended up as the final points of the night as the home team picked up their 11th win of the season by the final count of 49-29.
“We’ve been stressing chasing down loose balls and I think we did that better tonight,” said Davis. “Defensively we played pretty well the whole night and we are starting to play with more intensity and we better with our schedule down the stretch.”
In the win, the Lady Devils placed a pair of scorers in double figures, led by DeLaney Harper’s 16 points, with Braylie Jones adding 10.
Offense was a struggle all night for the Lady Hounds, and they were paced by 15 points from junior standout Brooke Kennedy.
Both teams were back in SHAC action on Thursday, Jan. 16, with the Lady Devils making the always tough trip to Fairfield, while the Lady Hounds were at home to host the Ripley Lady Jays. The North Adams girls will also be in action on Saturday in the Coach Young Classic, facing the Williamsburg Lady Wildcats in a scheduled 3:15 p.m. tip off.
Manchester
4 15 4 6 —29
North Adams
18 12 10 9 —49
Manchester (29): M. Morrison 1 2-2 4, Jones 1 0-0 2, Kennedy 5 4-4 15, Lucas 2 0-0 4, Hobbs 2 0-0 4, Team 11 6-6 29.
N. Adams (49): Sonner 1 2-2 4, Shipley 2 0-0 4, Buttelwerth 2 0-0 4, Shupert 1 0-0 3, Jones 3 3-4 10, Call 1 0-0 3, Harper 5 6-8 16, Howell 2 1-2 5, team 17 12-16 49.
Three-Point Goals:
Manchester (1)- Kennedy 1
N. Adams (3)- Shupert 1, Jones 1, Call 1
