Round Two goes to the Lady Devils

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

For the second time this month, the rivalry was renewed between between the Peebles Lady Indians and the North Adams Lady Devils. On December 4 in Peebles, the Lady Indians used a second-half rally to get past the Lady Devils 38-35 and on December 14 in Seaman, Coach Rob Davis and his squad were out to even the season series and move up in the standings in the big school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.

There are a lot of givens when these two county powerhouses match up. There will be large and enthusiastic crowds on both sides, the two teams will be physical and “get after each other” on defense, there will be outstanding and clutch individual performances and the team that comes out on top will rest well that night, mainly from complete exhaustion.

All of these elements came into play last Thursday in yet another classic Peebles-North Adams battle. In a game that saw three ties and six lead changes early, it was a 13-0 North Adams run that spanned two quarters that made the difference as this time the Lady Devils held on to the advantage , hit some free throws down the stretch and claimed the 48-41 victory.

“What a great game this was,” said Coach Davis after the game in his radio spot. “We knew it was going to be a great one and we just had to come out ready to play. We gave Payton (Johnson) too many but she is a great ball player and she’s going to get her points. We did a great job on her the first game and ended up on the losing side, but I’ll gladly take the winning side tonight. We switched up defenses and I think that confused them a bit, but we got more aggressive as the game went on.”

In their latest match up, the Lady Devils struck first on a Karlie Kennedy three-pointer off the left wing and then pulled ahead 6-1 when Kenlie Jones matched Kennedy, but this time for the opposite side of the floor.Undaunted, the Peebles girls battled back with a 6-0 run, capped by an Abigail Smalley try to give them their first lead at 7-6. North Adams went back in front on a pair of Tatum Grooms free throws and the quarter ended with two Payton Johnson free tosses that left Peebles up by one.

A basket by Johnson on the first possession of the second frame extended the Peebles lead to three at 11-8 but two consecutive buckets for the home team flipped the scoreboard again. Right back came the Lady Indians with baskets by Johnson and Caydence Carroll and then the two sides traded three-balls, Jones for North Adams and Johnson for Peebles, leaving the visitors on top 18-15. The Lady Indians went scoreless for the final three minutes of the first half while the Lady Devils finished the half on a 6-0 run, baskets by Grooms, Katelynn Boerger and then a Boerger buzzer-beater in the paint send the home team to the intermission with a 21-18 lead.

That late first half momentum for the Lady Devils carried right over to the third quarter as they opened on a 7-0 run, stretching the total to a 13-0 run. The run ended on a Harlee Brand three-pointer that put her team on top by double digits at 28-18. Johnson broke the run with a coast-to-coast drive that ended in that old-fashioned three-point play, followed by the Peebles senior guard getting a steal and score and quickly the North Adams lead was sliced in half.

Buckets by Boerger and brand put North Adams back up nine but the red-hot Rio Grande-bound Johnson nailed another three. The home team got the final two of the third stanza and hence took a 34-26 lead into the final eight minutes, bound and determined not to let that lead slip away this time.

“We haven’t really put together four good quarters all season,” said Coach Davis. “We couldn’t afford to do that tonight and we stressed that at halftime.”

Early in the final period, another Smalley three pulled Peebles within 36-29 but the visitors could never get over the hump this time around. With five minutes to go, Boerger scored on the inside to put her team up 39-33 but the Lady Indians made it a one-score affair with three free throws, two by Johnson and one by Angel Gray. Things got dicey for the home side when Smalley later drilled another try and the North Adams lead was cut to a single point at 40-39. Again, the Lady Devils had an answer, this time another Brand three-pointer . That was followed up by a pair of Johnson free throws that made it 43-41 but that was to be the final points of the night for the Lady Indians.

With 1:25 to play, Jones drove the lane for a score, giving North Adams a 45-41 advantage and after a Peebles miss, Jones was fouled and hit one of two from the stripe. Another Peebles miss and again Jones was fouled and the senior point guard put a pair through the twine with 25 seconds left, the final points on a hard-fought 48-41 North Adams victory.

The winners placed three players in double figures in their usual balanced attack, led by 13 points from Kenlie Jones and 10 apiece from Harlee Brand and Katelynn Boerger. Tatum Grooms added 8 with Karlie Kennedy scoring 6.

Peebles was topped by a game-high 26 points from Payton Johnson, including 8 of 9 from the foul line. With a trio of three-point goals, Abigail Smalley added 9 for the Lady Indians.

The win over Peebles improved the Lady Devils to 3-2 on the season and they added a fourth win to that total on Saturday night when they defeated the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors 46-17. As of pres time, North Adams stood 3-1 in conference play with a chance to move into a first-place with a win over Lynchburg-Clay on Monday night.

Peebles dropped to 4-2 on the season, 3-2 in the SHAC and will be back in action on Thursday, December 21 with a conference road trip to Fayetteville.

North Adams and Peebles will also be heavily favored to meet for a third time in December in the finals of the upcoming Holiday Classic, a possible third game on a third different court.

Peebles

9 9 8 15 —41

North Adams

8 13 13 14 —48

Peebles (41): Johnson 8 8-9 26, Smalley 3 0-0 9, Carroll 1 0-0 2, Gray 1 2-4 4, Team 13 10-13 41.

N. Adams (48): M. Shelton 0 1-2 1, Grooms 3 2-2 8, Kennedy 2 1-2 6, Boerger 5 0-0 10, Brand 4 0-0 10, Jones 4 3-4 13, Team 18 7-10 48.

three-Pointers:

Peebles (5)- Johnson 2, Smalley 3

N. Adams (5)- Kennedy 1, Brand 2, Jones 2