(by Don Meador, Allen County Schools, January 13, 2020)
Coming off two of the lowest scoring games in program history, the Allen County-Scottsville Lady Patriots came out firing Friday night against Monroe County. The “let the ball fly” strategy continued for four quarters, leading to a 56-53 win over the Lady Falcons.
“It was a nice win, a quality team win,” coach Greg Dunn said. “The big thing that stands our for me was that so many people contributed. We had eight people score. Allison (Meador) led us with 15 and Taylor (Carter) had 12. Then several others had points. Abby Willoughby had three points on one shot and it ended up being a three-point game. That was a huge shot.”
Against Warren Central on January 6, Lady
Patriot shooters attempted 31 shots in their 37-28 loss to the Lady Dragons. A
night later, AC-S lifted 45 shots to the goal in a 58-24 setback to Glasgow.
Despite poor completion percentages against Warren Central (31.9%) and Glasgow
(20%), the Lady Patriots attempted 64 shots against Monroe County---connecting
on 23 for a 35.9% mark. Not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, the
increased looks and made baskets were key as AC-S snapped an eight game losing
skid with the win over Monroe County.
In addition, the Monroe County win reflected a total team effort. Allison Meador led the way with 15 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Taylor Carter added a season-high 12 points, had six rebounds, and dished out three assists. Chloe Cook added eight points, grabbed five rebounds, and recorded five assists. In addition, baskets from Jae McReynolds, Kaylee Bullington, Jayleigh Steenburgen, Haleigh Steenbergen, and Abby Willoughby proved to be instrumental in helping the Lady Patriots post the win.
Buckets from Meador, Carter, and McReynolds from the tip lifted AC-S to an early 8-5 lead. Cook followed with a 3-pointer pushing the Lady Patriots to an 11-5 lead near the two minute mark of the first frame. A lay-up by Kaylee Bullington lifted the hosts to their largest lead of the game, a 15-8 margin near the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Falcons overcame a 16-12 deficit to start the second period with a run that would give them a brief lead. Millie Myatt’s 3-pointer at the 2:16 point of the second period lifted the Lady Falcons to a 23-21 lead, capping an 11-5 run by Monroe County. Cook answered with her second 3-pointer of the night and Bullington scored in the final seconds of the first half to enable AC-S to carry a 26-23 lead to the locker room at the half.
A 4-0 run by Monroe County to start the third gave Monroe County a slight lead---a lead they would hold for most of the period. However, a Carter rebound and put back, a Carter jumper, and Bullington basket enabled AC-S to stay with one to three points for the first half of the third. The Lady Falcons pushed their lead to five points, 37-32, with 3:35 to go in the third only to see AC-S refuse to go away. Buckets by Meador and Haleigh Steenburgen closed the gap to one. Monroe County’s Paisley Ford sank a pair of free throws with 20 seconds to go in the quarter only to see AC-S counter in a big way. In the final seconds, McReynolds found Willoughby open on the win. The senior drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 36 to start the fourth.
The fourth quarter featured five lead changes and three ties before AC-S pulled out the win. A Meador 3-pointer and a three-point play by Jayleigh Steenbergen early in the period proved big as did the play of Carter. The AC-S junior canned three jumpers over a two-and-a-half minute span that either enabled AC-S to take the lead or stay with in a basket. However, Monroe continued to answer as Gracie Veach and Ford made several key free throws. Ford’s throws at the 1:01 mark gave the Lady Falcons a 53-51 lead.
The Lady Patriots mounted one final charge. Meador sank a free throws to cut the lead to one. Moments later following a free throw miss by Myatt, Meador missed on a go-ahead 3-point try only to see an alert Cook grab the offensive rebound. Her put back basket lifted AC-S to a 54-53 lead with 27 seconds left. Monroe County turned the ball over on their possession. McReynolds sank a pair of free throws at the seven second mark to lift AC-S to a three-point lead. A Myatt 3-point try in the final seconds missed, giving AC-S the win.
AC-S finished the game 23-64 shooting (35.9%) from the field and five of eight at the line. The Lady Patriots also went 5-18 from three-point range. Monroe County made 19-55 shots, 12-18 free throws, and three 3-point baskets. AC-S out rebounded Monroe County 46-39 with the totals including 18 offensive rebounds that led to 26 points for the Lady Patriots.
The District 15 win eased the pain of the long losing streak and the hurt left over from a disappointing 58-24 loss to Glasgow on January 7. The Lady Scotties dominated from the tap. Glasgow led 16-4 after the first quarter and 23-9 at halftime. A 23-8 third quarter turned the game into a rout. By game’s end, the Lady Patriots’ 20% shooting night left the team with only 24 points---the fewest number of points ever scored in the 46-year history of the program.
AC-S (3-11) will travel to Westmoreland Friday night for a match-up against the Lady Eagles. The border battle game will mark the 10th time the teams have played since 1975 and the first time AC-S has played Westmoreland in Tennessee since 1989. Westmoreland leads the series 6-3.
“We still have a couple of younger players still out battling sickness,” Dunn said. “Jaylee Covington is still out with an injury. We don’t know much about Westmoreland right now but hopefully we can take from what we did against Monroe County and build upon that.”
Monday, the Lady Patriots travel to Butler County and will host Edmonson County Tuesday. Both Butler County and Edmonson County will be JV-Varsity girl’s games only.