Lady Mavs hope to rebound
Anderson County’s Emily Mustard grabs a defensive rebound during Friday night’s rival- ry game against Clinton. Mustard finished the evening with 12 points. (photo:Tony Cox )
The Lady Mavericks have lost their last four games, including a pair of District 4-AAA contests last week.
ACHS (4-6 overall, 0-2 in the district) will host the Hammers Christmas Tournament this week.
The team will be looking to find its way back into the win column.
“We’ll need to get some wins in our tournament this week,” Lady Mavs Coach Mitch Cupples said.
“We’ll play in our tournament, and then we’ll be off until January.”
Anderson County opened tournament play Tuesday against Carter, but results were not available at press time.
Tournament play continues through Thursday at ACHS.
Last Friday, the Lady Mavericks lost to crosstown rival Clinton 75-53 at home, despite having a 10-point lead early.
“We were up 26-16 in the first half, and then they went on a 17-4 run to end the second quarter, then we were down by three at halftime,” Cupples said. “We got into foul trouble and we had too many bad turnovers.
“Then (Clinton’s) Allie York hit seven of her eight three-pointers.”
Jaylynn Bullock had 15 points against the Lady Dragons (10-1, 2-0).
Emily Mustard added 12.
The Lady Mavericks opened the district portion of their schedule with a 49-43 loss to Scott in Huntsville on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Anderson County fell behind early and never recovered, according to Cupples.
“We missed too many layups in the first three quarters,” he said.
“We got into a hole early and we missed
our first eight
layups.
“We missed 43 shots,” he said. “We were 10-for-35 from (two-point range) and we shot 27% overall for the game, so our three-point percentage wasn’t any better than our two-point percentage.”
Despite his team surrendering just 49 points to the Lady Highlanders, Cupples noted the Lady Mavs team also had their share of offensive struggles.
“As far as points, our defense was pretty good,” he said.
“But it wasn’t up to where my standards
are.
“When we have problems offensively, we let it affect our defensive intensity. You’re going to have nights where you don’t shoot well.”
Mustard posted a double-double as she scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
Bullock finished with 12 points for the Lady Mavericks.