It was an up and down kind of day for the Avery basketball teams on Monday night at Viking Gymnasium.The junior varsity teams split a pair of matchups with the visiting Hendersonville Bearcats. The girls opened the night with a one-sided 77-21 thrashing of the Lady Bearcats. Avery's press defense exposed Hendersonville's weak dribbling backcourt, snatching up a total of 28 steals in the win.
Avery scored the first 16 points of the game and led 22-4 after one quarter and surrendered only a total of four made field goals in the entire half. Mercedes Bentley tallied 12 points in the first half, with nine points from Brooke Buchanan as the Vikings built an astounding 42-11 halftime lead.
It was a case of more of the same in the third quarter as the Big Red continued to dominate, leading 62-16 en route to the 56-point win.
A total of three Avery players reached double figures: Bentley led all scorers with 22 points in addition to seven assists and two steals. Buchanan scored 13 with six rebounds and three steals, and Logan Johnson scored ten points. Savannah Dellinger had six points and six assists, four rebounds and three steals for the Lady Vikings, with six points, seven rebounds, five assists, and five steals by Mary Chesnut Smith.
"I was proud of every one of the girls tonight," Coach Pat Daniels said after the win. "We ran hard yesterday after the break, and the girls were ready to play ball. We had a season-high in assists and the girls did a great job of sharing the basketball."
The junior varsity boys trailed 16-10 to Hendersonville after one quarter and 32-26 at halftime. The Bearcats built the lead to double figures at 49-38 after three periods before the Vikings roared back to cut the deficit to a single point in the waning minutes at 55-54 and again at 57-56. Hendersonville converted on a pair of possessions down the stretch and held Avery to a single point over the final 1:36 of play to secure a 61-56 victory.
Spencer Blackburn scored 16 points to lead Avery, with 12 points each from Taylor Potter and Alex Villanueva.
In varsity action the Avery Lady Vikings scored the first six points of the game and led by five at 10-5 after one period. The team's transition game found its groove in the second quarter as the guard tandem of Allison Vance and Samantha Shook combined for ten points in the quarter. Katie Ellis came off the bench and scored nine first half points to help Avery to a 31-18 lead going into intermission.
A 21-4 scoring run over the course of the third quarter put the contest out of reach as Avery's quick hands wreaked havoc on the helpless Bearcats. The Big Red rode the strength of seven players scoring in the quarter to amass a 52-22 lead after three periods and cruised to the easy 74-31 win.
Ellis paced the Lady Vikings with a double-double, scoring 17 points and hauling down 11 rebounds in addition to four blocks. Vance scored 14 points with eight helpers and five steals. Eudy rounded out the double-figure scorers with ten points and five steals. Megan Tennant and Samantha Shook each scored nine points in the triumph.
The win helped Avery remain undefeated and in a share for first place in conference play at 2-0, and improved to 8-4 overall.
In the evening's night cap the Vikings hoped to put together its first winning streak of the season following a thrashing of Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, but it was the visiting Bearcats that ran wild and struck early and often.
Hendersonville built a 24-8 lead behind a full-court pressing defense that consistently harassed any Viking player attempting to bring the basketball upcourt. The Bearcats upped the offensive ante in teh second quarter, turning defense into offense to the tune of a 27-point second quarter burst. Avery scored nearly double the points it tallied in the first quarter, as Kody Hughes led Avery with all seven of his points for the game during the stanza. Fifteen second quarter points only dug a deeper hole for the Vikings to climb from, as Hendersonville led 51-23 at halftime.
The third quarter proved more of the same, as Hendersonville turned the basketball game into a track meet with 27 additional points in the quarter to amass a 78-31 lead after three quarters and eventually won by the final score of 96-45.
Senior Jared Ward was the only Avery player in double-figures, scoring 14 points, with seven points from Hughes. No other Viking scored more than four points for the game. Hendersonville registered five double-figure scorers, led by 19 points from Keyvon Young. The win improved the Bearcats to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in Western Highlands play, while Avery drops to 2-10 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
With the postponement of Wednesday's games at Ashe County, Avery will next take the floor on Friday afternoon and evening in Columbus for another 1A conference matchup at Polk County.
