West Union and Ripley met on December 11 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action with the Lady Jays holding on for a 45-43 victory. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Part of the Monday night Southern Hills Athletic Conference girls basketball slate on December 11 saw the West Union Lady Dragons cross the county line to face the Ripley Lady Jays. Both teams came into the contest with one win and Monday night’s battle was evenly matched, though thoroughly dominated by a total of 43 fouls whistled, resulting in a combined 66 free throws, making for a long evening on the river. In the end, it was the home team who made the most plays, grabbing a lead in the final period and hanging on for the 45-43 win.
In the opening stanza, the Lady Dragons took the advantage, though they struggled offensively against the Ripley zone. Trailing 6-5 late in the first, the Lady Dragons got buckets from Olivia Lewis on an out-of-bounds play and then a layup from Annabelle McIntosh to lead 9-6 as the quarter closed.
The second quarter of Monday night’s game could only be described in one word, “long.” Over the span of eight minutes, the teams continually marched to the charity strips and combined they managed just five field goals while the rest of the points came on 14 successful free throws., though they also combined to miss 17 freebies. The best of the quarter belonged to the Lady Dragons who opened up a double digit advantage at 24-12 when Lewis hit two from the line with 1:02 left. The Lady Jays cut into that deficit before the half ended, getting a free throw from Brooke Sims and then a banked home three-pointer at the buzzer from Kenlee Finn to send the teams top the break with West Union up 24-16.
The halftime respite turned out to be a good thing for the home team as they began the third quarter with an 8-0 run, holding the Lady Dragons scoreless for five minutes. That run tied the score at 24 and the first West Union point of the second half came on a Violet Randolph free throw and put the visitors back up 25-24. The score remained tight with four ties and four lead changes in the closing minutes of the third, before a quartet of free throws from Ripley’s Brooklyn Manning giving the Lady Jays a 32-29 lead as the third period ended.
The game was immediately tied again when Lewis drained a triple on the Lady Dragons’ first possession of the final quarter. Ripley scored the next four but an Ashlah Staten three drew the Lady Dragons back to within one. The Lady Jays answered with a 5-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 41-35, but the visitors continued to battle as a Randolph try cut the gap to 42-39 with just over a minute to play.
With 19.4 seconds to play, a steal and score by Madison Stout pulled West Union to within one at 44-43 and after a Ripley turnover, the Lady Dragons had a chance to grab the lead but a Randolph three was off the mark and a dual possession on the rebound saw the arrow pointing the home way. A run out on the inbounds pass saw the Jays’ Jersey Fulton haul in the long pas and get fouled as she drove to the rim. Fulton hit one of two free throws to give her team a two-point lead with 8.2 seconds left. The Lady Dragons had one more chance to tie or win but a final shot from Staten was errant and the Ripley squad escaped with the two-point triumph.
The victorious Lady Jays were led in scoring by 17 points from Kenlee Finn, joined in double figures by 11 points from Brooklyn Manning. On their home floor, the Lady Jays were just 18 of 38 from the free throw line, though Manning was nearly perfect with 7 of 8.
West Union (1-3) was paced by 14 points from Ashlah Staten with Olivia Lewis also reaching double figures with 11. The Lady Dragons were 17 of 26 from the stripe.
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday, December 14, with the Lady Jays traveling to Huntington in non-conference action, while West Union will reaming in conference play with another trip to Brown County to face the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors.
West Union
9 15 5 14 —43
Ripley
6 10 16 13 —45
W. Union (43): Randolph 2 1-2 6, Stapleton 0 1-2 1, Staten 3 6-10 14, hall 0 2-4 2, Stout 1 2-2 4, Lewis 3 4-6 11, McIntosh 2 1-2 5, Team 11 17-28 43.
Ripley (45): Fisher 2 0-0 4, Sims 2 2-10 7, Fultz 1 0-0 2, Finn 5 5-8 17, Fulton 0 2-6 2, Manning 2 7-8 11, Hackney 0 2-6 2, Team 12 18-38 45.
Three-Point Goals:
W. Union (4)- Staten 2, Randolph 1, Lewis 1
Ripley (3)- Sims 1, Finn 2
