By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
When the 2022-23 Southern Hills Athletic Conference girls basketball schedule was released, North Adams Lady Devils head coach Rob Davis had to wonder who he had angered in the SHAC offices. To open their 2022-23 campaign, the Lady Devils faced conference road games at Fairfield, Peebles and Lynchburg, a gauntlet of teams expected to be in the top echelon of the conference this season.
After surviving the first two contests, defeating Fairfield 51-35 and Peebles 55-51, the Lady Devils made the trip to Lynchburg on Monday, December 5 to face the Lady Mustangs, the team that had been picked in the coaches preseason poll to finish at the top of the SHAC’s big school division, with the Lady Devils chosen to place second. Perhaps that was bulletin board material for the Lady Devils as they took care of business for a third consecutive conference game, building a big lead and then holding off the Lady Mustangs to claim an early and important 51-44 victory.
“I thought our girls got physical right back at Lynchburg tonight,” Coach Davis comments in his postgame radio interview. “We opened up that lead taking care of the basketball and making nice passes and for the most part defensively we limited them to one shot. I thought Tatum Grooms and Harlee Brand did a great job being physical on the boards tonight. I thought we were soft in the Peebles game and we worked on that in practice and it paid off tonight.”
Monday night’s battle began as a defensive struggle in Lynchburg, always a tough venue for visiting squads. Through half of the first quarter, the score was tied at a measly 2-2 before North Adams senior Keetyn Hupp scored five of her game-high 24 points to give her team a 7-2 lead. A Lynchburg bucket ended a low-scoring opening stanza with the visitors on top 7-4.
One of the more pleasant early season surprises for Coach Davis has been the offensive production from junior point guard Kenlie Jones and she continued that on Monday, combining with Hupp for back-to-back three pointers that gave their team a 17-6 second quarter advantage. The Lady Mustangs battled back with three-pointers from Jade Massey and Macy Etienne but at the half North Adams still held a double digit lead at 23-13.
In the third period, the duo of Hupp and Jones again struck from long distance, one of two that Hupp fired in during the eight-minute span and the North Adams lead extended to 29-13, their biggest of the game. The Lady Devils also got two buckets in the third from sophomore Katelynn Boerger and in the midst of a Lynchburg run, still led 38-20 as the final quarter began.
To hold on to their lead and secure the “W”, the Lady Devils needed to hit their free throws in the final quarter and though they missed four, they sank seven and that did the trick as they held off the Lady Mustangs to stay unbeaten with a solid 51-44 victory.
As mentioned, Keetyn Hupp led the Lady Devils (3-0) and all scorers with 24 points, joined in double figures by Kenlie Jones’s 11 points, with Laney Ruckel adding 8. Lynchburg was paced by 14 points from Macy Etienne and 12 from Addison West as the Lady Mustangs dropped to 2-2 in conference play.
“If one or two of our girls are having an off night, someone else seems to step up,” said Coach Davis. “Keetyn has played really well the past two games and Laney Ruckel just works her tail off every night. I’m proud of all our kids tonight.”
The North Adams girls will be in non-conference action for the first time on Saturday, December 10 when they will travel to Batavia for a noon tip off scheduled.
North Adams 51
Lynchburg 44
North Adams
7 16 15 13 —51
Lynchburg
4 9 17 14 —44
N. Adams (51): Boerger 2 0-0 4, Hupp 9 2-6 24, Ruckel 2 4-4 8, Brand 1 2-2 4, Jones 4 1-3 11, Team 18 9-15 51.
Lynchburg (44): Etienne 5 0-0 14, Price 3 2-2 8, West 5 1-1 12, Massey 1 3-4 6, Waits 1 0-0 2, Barry 1 0-0 2, Team 16 6-7 44.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Adams (6)- Hupp 4, Jones 2
Lynchburg (6)- Etienne 4, Massey 1, West 1