The Avery Lady Vikings varsity girls team met a tough foe at Lentz-Eggers Gym, falling by to Watauga by a 58-40 final score.
Avery seniors Katelynn Eudy and Mercedes Bentley combined for eight of the 10 Lady Viking points in the first period, but the Lady Pioneers opened the game with a 9-2 scoring run and held a 15-10 lead after one period.
Over the second stanza Watauga slowly seized control, scoring the final five points of the half to open up a double-figure lead at 31-21 into the intermission.
As the third quarter played out, the Avery defense held Watauga to just nine points for the quarter, but the Big Red offense could only muster seven points of its own as the Lady Pioneers led 40-28 going into the final eight minutes of play.
The Lady Vikings were often its own worst enemy, as it was unable to consistently knock down shots and were forced into a high number of turnovers by the Watauga defense. Avery struggled to find an answer inside for Watauga sophomore post player Brooke Rhodes, who scored a game-high 25 points. Avery center Megan Tennant suffered an ankle injury in the preseason and was unavailable for the first three Lady Viking contests to open the season, making the assignment of slowing down the Watauga inside game a difficult one. Rhodes scored seven of her 12 field goals in the second half as the Lady Pioneers pulled away over the final stanza for the win.
Eudy led the Avery charge with 14 points, with 12 points from Mercedes Bentley. No other Lady Viking scored more than four points.
“We really missed Megan in the game inside to guard Brooke. She did a great job guarding her back during the summer, and Megan is our best defender against back-to-the-post players, and we felt that that might have made a big difference,” Lady Vikings head basketball coach Missy Lyons said after the game. “We had trouble on the boards rebounding and that really got us in a bind. We started a freshman and a sophomore against Watauga, but it was good experience for those girls and for the entire team.”
On Friday, Nov. 26, the Lady Vikings traveled to Ledger and took on the R-S Central Lady Hilltoppers in the Unimin Harvest Hoops Invitational Tournament at Mitchell High School. Avery fell behind early, but rallied to tie the contest on three separate occasions before a late R-S scoring spurt proved too much to overcome in a 65-56 loss.
As the second period ensued the taller Lady Hilltopper club found success shooting inside and rebounding inside. Avery countered by utilizing a 1-3-1 zone defense. The strategy worked well as the Lady Vikings scrapped back into the contest, tying the game at 26 apiece with 1:18 left in the first half. R-S scored the final four points of the half, however, to lead 30-26 at intermission.
R-S came out strong to open the third quarter, as a 7-4 scoring run over the first two and half minutes helped Central build a 37-30 advantage. Following a timeout, the Lady Vikings used a Bentley three-pointer and a Kelsie Clarke layup to quickly cut the margin to just two points at 37-35. Central answered with its own 5-0 scoring run to lead by eight, but the Lady Vikings rallied in the final minute of the quarter to draw to within 48-44 after three periods.
Avery opened the final quarter with four points from Burleson to tie the game at 48. The game remained nip-and-tuck for the first three minutes of the quarter, but a five-point scoring run built a 56-51 Central lead. A pair of Clarke free throws with less than three minutes to play brought the Lady Vikings to within a point at 56-55, but the Lady Hilltoppers closed the contest with a 9-1 scoring run to seal the victory.
Eudy and Bentley scored 13 points each for the Big Red, with 11 from Burleson and eight points from Clarke. Central’s Shannon Hines led all scorers with 26 points.
“We fell behind but caught up. We stayed with them pretty much the rest of the game, but we turned the ball over way too much. Hopefully those mistakes are things we can correct here early on,” Lyons said following the game.
In Avery’s final game of the week, it tangled with the Lady Bears from Mount Airy in a matchup of regional qualifiers from a season ago. Mount Airy was strong virtually from the outset, lighting up the scoreboard for 12 three-pointers for the contest en route to a decisive 72-44 win.
Avery fell behind by double-figures in the first quarter and was unable to climb back into the contest thanks to the hot hand of the Lady Bears. Mount Airy led 25-13 after one period and took a commanding 40-22 lead into halftime. Senior Mary Chesnut Smith paced the Lady Vikings with seven first-half points, while Jordan Hiatt led Mount Airy with 14 points, including four 3-point baskets.
Mount Airy’s pressing defense, experience, and height was a lethal combination against Avery’s hopes for a second-half comeback. The Lady Bears pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Big Red 26-10 for the frame to take a 66-32 lead and went on to hand the Lady Vikings a third consecutive setback.
Eudy scored 17 to lead the Lady Viking scoring attack and was named to the All-Tournament Team, with nine points from Smith and eight from Bentley for the game.
“They shot the ball well, and Mount Airy is a tough team to match up with. We’re still missing Megan in the post, and they put a lot of man-to-man pressure on us,” Lyons said following the contest. “We have young ball-handlers who don’t have a lot of experience yet, but it was a good challenge for them. They just kept us from getting into our offense and they shot the eyes out of it to keep us from catching up.”
Avery returns to action this week with a road game on Tuesday, Nov. 30, at Cloudland and a rematch at home with Watauga this Friday, Dec. 3.
