North Adams’ Laney Ruckel looks for room along the baseline under the defensive pressure of Peebles’ Lydia Maddox as the two teams battled last week at PHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles guard Payton Johnson (23) tries to get a shot attempt over the outstretched arms of North Adams’ Harlee Brand (13) in action from the December 1 SHAC contest. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
North Adams’ Keetyn Hupp goes up in the land for a one-handed floater as the Lady Devils battled Peebles on December 1 at PHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Peebles High School was the site on Thursday, December 1 for an early season girls basketball showdown in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as the Lady Indians played host to county rival North Adams. The Peebles squad was coming off an upset conference loss to Whiteoak while for the Lady Devils it was their first conference outing.
Whenever these two teams meet, expect an all-out battle with back-and-forth swings and that is exactly what fans saw on Thursday night as the two teams fought it out right down to the wire with North Adams hanging on late to hand the home team a 55-51 defeat.
As the game began, it looked like the visitors might run away and hide as they raced out to a 7-2 lead, boosted by a game-opening three-pointer from Kenlie Jones. A later three-ball from Keetyn Hupp extended the North Adams advantage to 12-4 and when Hupp scored from the paint with just over a minute left in the first quarter, the Lady Devils led 17-6. In the final minute, though, a bucket and a free throw from Payton Johnson helped the home team slice their deficit to 17-9 after one.
In the second stanza, the Lady Devils maintained their advantage, getting two more three pointers from Hupp and another from Karlie Kennedy off the bench, but the Peebles girls stayed within striking distance and a putback bucket by Angel Gray with 30 second left in the half pulled the Lady Indians within 32-24 at the break.
Peebles’ Lily McFarland began the second half with a three-pointer and a Johnson bucket on the home team’s second possession quickly cut the North Adams lead to 32-29. North Adams answered with a basket by Jones and a Harlee Brand triple, but Peebles responded with baskets by Johnson and Caydence Carroll. Another McFarland trey with 2:54 left in the third made it 41-36 but a big three from the corner by NA’s Taylor Shelton kept the visitors up 46-39 as the final period began,
AS is the norm for games like this, a large portion of the final quarter was spent around the charity stripe, as the two teams combined for 19 free throw attempts. A pair of jumpers from Gray pulled Peebles within 49-46 with 2:15 leftbut a crucial Peebles turnover resulted in a Jones basket for the Lady Devils that made it 52-46 and from that point forward, the visitors did what was necessary to hold the lead and escape with a hard-fought 55-51 victory.
Hupp led the winners with 21 points, with Jones adding 12 and Brand chipping in 8 as the Lady Devils combined to hit seven three-point goals. Peebles’ Payton Johnson led all scorers with 25 with teammate Caydence Carroll also hitting double figures with 13.
