Senior Harlee Brand tallied 14 points as the Lady Devils downed Miami Trace in non-conference play on January 4. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

Senior Harlee Brand tallied 14 points as the Lady Devils downed Miami Trace in non-conference play on January 4. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>The first player off the bench for Coach Rob Davis, junior Mckenna Shelton goes up for the left-handed shot attempt as the Lady Devils defeated Miami Trace 66-38. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

The first player off the bench for Coach Rob Davis, junior Mckenna Shelton goes up for the left-handed shot attempt as the Lady Devils defeated Miami Trace 66-38. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
<p>As it usually does, the North Adams defense produces offense as her Lady Devils. Tatum Grooms (3) and Kenlie Jones, right, apply the pressure to Miami Trace’s Zoey Grooms. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

As it usually does, the North Adams defense produces offense as her Lady Devils. Tatum Grooms (3) and Kenlie Jones, right, apply the pressure to Miami Trace’s Zoey Grooms. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

After closing out 2023 with a tough loss to Peebles in the finals of the Holiday Classic, Coach Rob Davis and his North Adams Lady Devils made their first foray onto the hardwood in 2024 on Thursday, January 4 as they hosted the Miami Trace Lady Panthers in non-conference action. Those in attendance may have thought they were on their first roller coaster ride of the new year as dis an exasperated Coach Davis at time. The Lady Devils came out on fire, claiming a 16-point lead after one quarter, then saw the Lady Panthers cut that gap to eight by halftime, then began the second half with a 14-3 run that eventually propelled them to a 66-38 triumph.

“We knew they had one girls who could really score and we lost her a few times,” said Coach Davis after the win. “We just had some lapses in concentration and focus tonight and I challenged them at halftime and I thought our pressure hurt them in the third quarter. We sometimes have a lack of confidence in our shooting and at times our shot selection needs to be better. Our second half went a lot better than our first half and I liked the energy we had.”

Early on, it looked as if the New Year’s break had done wonders for the North Adams girls as they scored the game’s first eight points, that run culminating with a Harlee Brand three-point goal. After Trace hot a free throw a the 3:51 mark, the Lady Devils scored the next five, including a Mckenna Shelton three-ball, to take a 13-1 lead. Senior point guard Kenlie Jones later nailed the third North Adams trey of the period and by the end of the first eight minutes of play, things looked quite good for the home team, up 20-4.

Midway through the second stanza, the lead bulged to 23-4, but over that last half of the second, the Lady Devils seemed to lose all focus and only managed two more points, a steal and score from Tatum Grooms with 20 seconds left. In that same time period, the Lady Panthers began to find the range, ending the half on a 13-2 run and seemingly grabbing the momentum and pulling within 25-17 at the halftime break.

It’s safe to say that the paint was peeling in the North Adams locker room at the break and whatever Coach Davis told his team, it worked. The Lady devils opened the third quarter exactly as they had the first quarter, opening the second half on a 14-3 run to stretch their lead back out to 19 points.The barrage began a minute into the half when Jones drilled another three-pointer from the top of the key followed immediately by a Taylor Shelton basket in transition. After the Lady Panthers got a triple from Jessee Stewart, the home team answered with a basket by Brand, another Jones three-pointer, a Jones lay up off a Trace turnover, and another bucket by Brand that gave her squad a much more comfortable cushion at 39-20. Before the third quarter closed, the Lady Panthers got a pair of Stewart three-pointers but sill trailed 41-28 as the final period began.

That final frame began with a bucket by North Adams’ katelynn Boerger, who overcame a rough first half to toss in four buckets over the final eight minutes.After a Miami Trace trey, the Lady Devils sewed things up with another pair of threes from the red-hot Kenlie Jones and then saw Boerger score the game’s final three baskets in an eventual 28-point victory.

On the strength of her five three-point baskets, Kenlie Jones led the winners with 22 points, joined in double figures by Harlee Brand with 14 and Tatum Grooms with 11. The Lady Panthers were paced by Jessee Stewart’s 18 points.

Two nights later, the Lady Devils improved their overall record to 8-3 and remained in a first place tie with Lynchburg in the big school division of the SHAC as they went on the road and defeated an improved Eastern Lady Warriors squad by a 54-46 final. On Monday, January 8 they moved to 9-3 with a 74-53 conference road victory at Ripley.

The North Adams girls will be back on their home court on Thursday, January 11, a non-conference battle with Batavia and will play the 7 p.m. game in Saturday’s Coach Young Classic, facing off with Chesapeake.

Miami Trace

4 13 11 10 —38

North Adams

20 5 16 25 —66

M. Trace (38): Lovett 3 0-0 7, Shull 0 0-2 0, Stewart 8 1-2 21, Kirkpatrick 0 1-2 1, Bock 1 0-0 2, Guess 2 0-0 4, Vincent 1 1-2 3, Team 12 3-8 38.

N. Adams (66): M. Shelton 2 2-2 7, Grooms 5 1-4 11, Kennedy 1 0-0 2, Boerger 4 0-0 8, Brand 6 1-2 14, Jones 8 1-1 22, T. Shelton 1 0-0 2, Team 27 5-9 66.

Three-Point Goals:

M. Trace (4)- Stewart 4

N. Adams (7)- Jones 5, Brand 1, M. Shelton 1