Lady Dragons rebound (and score) to take third
Clinton’s Ashauntie Davis draws the foul on a drive to the hoop Monday night. (photo:Ken Leinart )
“We were more aggressive tonight. We were getting the ball inside and not depending on the three all night long,” said Alicia Phillips, Clinton head coach.
“We had some miscommunications on defens which caused some hiccups for us but I thought they fought for each other,” she said.
The game went back and forth throughout as the Lady Dragons used a pair of Belle Starnes free throws and a traditional three-point play from Bailey Burroughs to open the game with a 5-0 lead. The Lady Highlanders answered with a 7-0 run to take the lead before Allie York nailed a 3-pointer and Sydney Herrell added a basket to give Clinton the lead at 10-7. Scott added a 3-pointer to tie the game before York hit another trey to give Clinton the lead once more. In the first quarter alone there were six lead changes. With only 18 seconds left in the first quarter, a pair of free throws from Sarah Burton gave the Lady Dragons a 15-14 lead.
The second quarter was very much like the first as the two teams swapped the lead four times. York added another 3-pointer and Herrell hit from beyond the arc to join Burton in scoring all 13 of Clinton’s second quarter points as the Lady Dragons took a 28-25 lead into the half.
Clinton opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 35-25. The Lady Highlanders refused to go away as they chipped away at the lead and trimmed the Lady Dragon’s advantage to 38-37 with 15.7 seconds remaining in the quarter. Burton hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Clinton a 42-37 lead heading into the final quarter.
Scott managed to cut the Clinton lead to 43-42 early in the quarter before Burton added a pair of free throws to push the lead back out to 45-42. Two more Burton free throws made it a 47-42 game before the Lady Highlanders battled back to tie the game at 47-47 with 3:39 left in the game.
With momentum seemingly on the side of Scott, Burroughs scored to give the Lady Dragons a lead they would not relinquish as Burton added a total of five throws in the final 2:22 and the Clinton defense allowed just one basket the rest of the way.
Burton led all scorers with 26 points while Burroughs added 12 points.
With the win, the Lady Dragons will open region play at 7 p.m. Friday night at Northview Academy in a win or go home game.
SHS 14 11 12 12 49
CHS 15 13 14 12 54
Scott - Jalin Young (17), Brittany Morrow (13), Alaina Duncan (7), Zoe Terry (6), Julie LeWallen (4)
CHS - Sarah Burton (26), Bailey Burroughs (12), Allie York (9), Sydney Herrell (5), Belle Starnes (2)