In books and the movies the hero overcomes adversity to defeat the bad guy, riding off triumphantly into the sunset.The Avery Lady Vikings hoped to repeat that script with a victory in the Western Regional semifinal over four-time defending state 1A girls champion Bishop McGuinness High School.
Unfortunately for the Big Red, the game did not go according to plan. A tough Bishop zone defense and a second half scoring run by the Lady Villains opened a double-digit lead that Avery could not overcome. Despite a valiant effort to the bitter end, the Lady Vikings saw their season come to an end as Bishop captured a 57-42 win Friday night at Fleming Gym on the campus of UNC-Greensboro.
The two squads battled through a low-scoring first quarter as neither team consistently found its range. Avery made only two of its first 14 shots in the opening quarter as Bishop took a narrow 9-8 lead after one period. The tall and athletic Lady Villains made it difficult for Avery to effectively press on defense or run its fast-tempo offense. Four Avery players each scored a pair of points in the stanza.
As the second quarter unfolded, the Lady Vikings made life difficult for the Bishop squad, as the Lady Villains went over four minutes without a single point and saw one of its strongest players in senior Erin Fitzgerald saddled with two fouls. In the meantime the Avery offense got untracked with a 10-2 scoring spurt for its strongest stretch of the game. Baskets by Sara Wiseman, Lauren Avery, and Katelynn Eudy, as well as a short jump shot by Hayley Pyatte propelled the Big Red into its largest lead of the game at 16-13 with 3:31 left before halftime.
Bishop remained poised, drawing fouls inside to score from the free throw line. Lady Villains coach Brian Robinson also rolled the dice by inserting Fitzgerald back into the lineup despite her two personal fouls. The gamble paid off as the duo of Fitzgerald and junior Megan Buckland paced the Lady Villains with six points in the final two and a half minutes to regain the lead. A driving layup by Buckland in the closing seconds gave Bishop a 25-20 lead going to halftime.
Buckland, the Lady Villains’ leading scorer at 19.5 points per contest, was held to just eight points in the first half on 3 of 8 shooting. Avery was led by seven points and three blocked shots in the half by junior forward Katelynn Eudy.
Avery shot 33 percent from the field in the first two periods, hile holding Bishop to under 31 percent. Scoring inside the paint, an area normally dominated by Avery, was 14-8 in favor of the Lady Villains through one half of play, and the running Lady Vikings surprisingly had no fast break points at halftime.
Despite being down on the scoreboard, the Big Red felt good about its play in the first two periods.
“I thought we had a great first half. They knew we came to play and could compete with them,” Avery girls head basketball coach Missy Lyons stated after the game. “When we were staying close and missing as many shots as we did, we were feeling pretty good. To be as close as we were, considering how poorly we shot the ball in the first half was a credit to how good we were playing defensively.”
As the second half began, the Lady Villains decided to divert away from its traditional man-to-man defense and switched to a 3-2 zone defense, congesting the paint area to entice Avery to win by hitting the perimeter shot.
“Avery was very good with its cutting and setting screens. We were having a lot of trouble with that so we went zone to try to settle us down. We played zone very little this year, but we did what we had to out of necessity,” Bishop McGuinness head coach Brian Robinson said after the game.
The decision paid off as the Lady Vikings found it hard to pass the basketball inside and struggled to consistently hit the outside shot. Bishop McGuinness heated up from the field to spark a 13-2 scoring run in the first 3:35 of the second half to push its lead to double figures at 38-22.
“It (the defensive switch) bothered us a little. We rushed a few shots, but the biggest thing was that they crashed the boards and boxed out better in the zone defense,” Coach Lyons said. “We were only getting one shot and that was it.”
Although trailing, the Lady Vikings put together another surge with an 8-2 scoring rally in the late stages of the third period, highlighted by a jumper from Wiseman and a three-pointer from Bentley. Bishop’s Buckland was covered all game by Viking shutdown defender Lauren Avery.
After being held in check by Lauren in the first half, Buckland heated up with nine points in the third quarter which helped stake the Lady Villains to a 42-30 lead after three periods.
A three-pointer from Wiseman in the opening minute of the final period drew Avery to within single-digits at 42-33, but that would be as close as the Lady Vikings would get for the remainder of the contest.
The Lady Villains shot 8 of 13 from the free throw line in the final period to protect its lead. Avery had a hard time getting open looks all evening on offense, making just 16 of 57 shots (28 percent) for the game.
Senior Lauren Avery led the Lady Vikings with 14 points and five rebounds, with 11 points and 8 rebounds from fellow senior Sara Wiseman. Katelynn Eudy scored just two points but hauled in a team-high ten rebounds.Buckland paced the Lady Villains with 24 points on 8 of 15 shooting with 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Point guard Marie Petrangeli was the only other Bishop player in double figures with 11 points.
Bishop outscored Avery 30-14 in the paint for the contest, and 16-5 off turnovers. The Lady Vikings generated more second-chance points, but Bishop held a decisive 16-0 advantage in fast-break points. Both teams committed 13 turnovers in the contest.
“They hit some good shots in the third quarter to pull away. We kept working hard but didn’t shoot well tonight,” Coach Lyons said in the post-game press conference. “We have personal goals we set for ourselves as a team, and it was hard to reach those tonight. Offensively we struggled a bit and that that hurt us down the stretch.”
The Lady Vikings finish its season with a school record 24 wins, with only four losses. Bishop McGuinness improved to 21-7, and went on to defeat fellow Western Highlands Conference member Mitchell 68-48 in Saturday’s regional final to advance to this weekend’s 1A girls state title game.
Bishop McGuinness vs. Avery Box Score At Greensboro, N.C. / Fleming Gymnasium BISHOP MCGUINNESS 57, AVERY 42 BISHOP MCGUINNESS (21-7) Buckland, Megan 8-15 6-10 24; Petrangeli, Marie 4-5 3-4 11; Fitzgerald, Erin 3-4 0-0 6; Liebal, Erin 2-4 2-2 6; Goldsmith, Sammi 2-8 0-0 4; Coon, Sarah 0-4 4-6 4; Cushing, Lauren 1-1 0-0 2; Elder, Kelly 0-1 0-0 0; Mortis, Gabby 0-3 0-0 0; Mason, Jeanine 0-0 0-0 0; Burske, Katie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 15-22 57. AVERY (24-4) Avery, Lauren 4-15 4-6 14; Wiseman, Sara 5-12 0-0 11; Bentley, Mercedes 2-6 0-0 5; Pyatte, Hayley 1-3 2-2 4; Perry, Elyse 2-7 0-0 4; Eudy, Katelynn 1-9 0-2 2; Smith, Mary Chesnut 1-1 0-0 2; Tennant, Megan 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 16-57 6-10 42. Bishop McGuinness................ 9 16 17 15 - 57 Avery ........................... 8 12 10 12 - 42 3-point goals—B. McGuinness 2-8 (Buckland, Megan 2-4; Goldsmith, Sammi 0-2; Mortis, Gabby 0-2), Avery 4-12 (Avery, Lauren 2-6; Bentley, Mercedes 1-3; Wiseman, Sara 1-2; Pyatte, Hayley 0-1). Fouled out—B. McGuinness-None, Avery -Avery, Lauren; Eudy, Katelynn. Rebounds—B. McGuinness 37 (Buckland, Megan 10), Avery 37 (Eudy, Katelynn 10). Assists—B. McGuinness 12 (Buckland, Megan 5), Avery 9 (Perry, Elyse 3). Total fouls—B. McGuinness 10, Avery 17. Technical fouls—B. McGuinness-None, Avery-None. Attendance-1290
