The Avery Vikings hosted the Mountain Heritage Cougars for a quartet of entertaining games on Tuesday night in Viking Gym.With one game remaining on the regular season schedule, Avery's junior varsity girls remained undefeated in Western Highlands Conference play with a 60-51 win over Mountain Heritage.
The Lady Vikings found themselves in a tough battle through much of the first half, leading by a single point at 16-15 after the first period. Late in the second quarter, a spurt helped the Big Red open up a seven-point edge at 32-25 at halftime.
The clubs continued a physical contest in the third quarter, as Avery continued to keep its lead, building it up slightly to 45-36 with one quarter to play.
Over the final stanza the Big Red found themselves taking frequent trips to the foul line. Avery held a five-point lead midway through the fourth period when the Mountain Heritage head coach was assessed a technical foul following an official's foul call. Mercedes Bentley hit three of four free throws to boost the Avery lead to eight.
Savannah Dellinger was fouled on Avery's ensuing possession and hit two free throws to double the Avery advantage to ten over mere seconds of play. The lead was all Avery needed as it sealed the remainder of the game from the lead. Dellinger highlighted the team's sterling performance at the stripe as she was a perfect 6 for 6 in the quarter The team went 11 for 15 in the quarter from the free throw to keep the Lady Cougars at bay and preserve the win.
Unlike the Polk County contest when she was consistently denied the ball, Mercedes Bentley bounced back with a passion against the Cougars by scoring a game-high 22 points with six assists and three steals. A pair of other Lady Vikings reached double-figures in the win, as Logan Johnson netted 11 points, four rebounds and three steals and Savannah Dellinger scored ten points.
"We hadn't practiced in several days, and it's tough to not be able to practice and have to go out and play. I thought we responded well because they had won seven in a row and had not lost since we beat them over there," Lady Vikings head coach Pat Daniels said after the win. "I was proud of the girls' effort. Logan Johnson wasn't feeling well but she played a heck of a game and ran the court well. Mercedes scored and distributed the ball for us. They broke our press a few times so we adjusted and played more half court defense. We set screens for each other offensively and we did pretty well against their defense."
The JV boys game featured a thrilling comeback in the final minute and a buzzer-beater finish as Avery won 50-47. Mountain Heritage led for much of the contest and held a narrow 37-36 lead as the final quarter began. The Cougars increased its advantage to 42-38 with just over four and a half minutes to play, but a Benji Stewart free throw and a Taylor Potter jumper cut the lead back to a point at 42-41.Following three straight points off free throws from Heritage, Avery found itself trailing again by three with 2:00 on the clock. Timmy Stewart hit a jump shot a minute later to make the score 45-43 with 1:03 to go. Mountain Heritage refused to fold, as a jumper gave the Cougars a four-point edge at 47-43 with only 50 seconds to play.
Avery's defense held the Cougars scoreless for the rest of the game while the offense went to work. Spencer Blackburn drove the lane and was fouled. He hit both free throws to make the score 47-45 with 36 seconds to play. Taylor Potter then stole the ball from a Heritage player to give possession back to the Big Red. On Avery's subsequent offensive set, Potter was fouled and calmly sank both ends of a one-and-one to tie the score at 47 with 16.3 seconds to play.
The game reached its crecendo as the final seconds played out. Avery's Dustin Clark was called for a foul on Heritage, but the player missed both free throws. Avery rebounded the second miss and pushed the ball upfloor. Timmy Stewart grabbed a long rebound off a missed Viking shot and heaved a shot from beyond the arc in front of the Viking bench that ended with his back facing the rim. The shot sailed through the as the horn sounded and Stewart was mobbed by teammates as the home crowd cheered.
Avery celebrated its fourth straight conference win and the JV boys stand at 6-5 in conference play. The Vikings travel to Ledger Friday night to play Mitchell.
