In the girls contest, the Big Red used its full-court pressing defense to generate multiple turnovers from West. Midway through the first stanza the Lady Vikings led by only a pair at 10-8, but then AHS used defense to generate offense. Mercedes Bentley also sparked the Lady Viking offense, draining three three-point baskets in the first period to help AHS take a commanding 28-11 lead.
West cut into the AHS advantage in the second stanza, as the Lady Vikings managed only seven points in the frame. The Lady Blackhawks cut its deficit as AHS backed out of its press defense attack, reducing Avery’s lead to a dozen at 35-23 by halftime.
In the third quarter the Lady Vikings returned to its tough defense, again forcing numerous West turnovers that helped the Big Red increase its lead to 48-30 after three quarters. The Lady Blackhawks had no answer for the AHS defense, while the Lady Vikings dominated the boards en route to the 22-point victory.
“We’ve been struggling in the first quarter. We haven’t been coming out well so we really focused on that,” said AHS head coach Missy Lyons. “We want our defense to create our offense, and we were able to do that with our press.”
Katelynn Eudy paced the Lady Vikings with a double-double, as she scored 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, while blocking five shots. Kelsie Clarke was the only other Lady Viking who scored double-figures with 12 points, but eight different AHS players scored in the win.
“Katelynn had a great game, and it was a good win. It gave us a chance to try different things and give everybody a lot of court time,” Lyons said. “Kelsie played great on the press and our half-court trap worked better than it has. We got to mix it up with some zone and some man-to-man and had the opportunity to relax and work on a lot of things.”
With the win, combined with a victory last Friday, Dec. 10, in overtime over Cloudland, the Lady Vikings has won three consecutive games and have a 3-4 overall record.
As with the girls contest, the AHS varsity boys grabbed the early lead over West and never trailed in the game. Six different Vikings scored in the opening frame as the Big Red took a 16-12 lead after one quarter.
The game remained close in the second period as AHS was bolstered by 10 points in the stanza by senior Dustin Clarke. Spencer Blackburn added a three-point basket as the Vikings led 31-21 at halftime.
“We started out slow, but I felt good about going into halftime and making adjustments, and we came out strong in the second half,” Avery varsity boys head coach Bo Manis said. “We just need to put two halves together and play a whole game. We were just running the floor playing good defense. That’s all I am asking for.”
“We have a lot of athletes and I think that was the difference tonight. We can go 12-deep and not worry,” said Manis. “We were able to keep subbing in and plugging along, which was good for us and hurt them. We kept pressure on them and picked up some steals on defense. They moved the ball well and we got frustrated early, but we wore them down in the second half and ran the floor well.”
Just over a week after getting swept in varsity action, the Avery Vikings repaid the Cloudland ‘Landers with a sweep of their own on Friday night. The Lady Vikings rallied from an early deficit to take a 50-49 overtime victory, while the Avery boys took an 87-68 victory.
The opening varsity game proved to be an instant classic. In the first quarter, the teams traded shots before Courtney Clark sparked an 8-0 Lady ‘Lander run to give Cloudland a 15-6 lead at the end of the period.
Avery responded in the second with shots from Lauren Burleson, Savannah Dellinger and Mercedes Bentley during an 8-2 Avery run to close the gap to two points. Mattison McKinney drained a shot in the closing seconds to give CHS a 19-15 lead at half.
Cloudland extended their lead to eight points by the midway point of the third quarter, but the Lady Viking defense kept Cloudland from another field goal in the frame and began chipping away at the lead. Katelynn Eudy’s shot at the end of the quarter brought the CHS lead to 32-27.
The final quarter saw CHS lead 37-31 midway through. However, Avery stormed back with a 7-2 run to tie the game with 2:17 remaining in regulation. Clarke drained a 3-pointer with 1:20 left to put CHS up 43-40, but Bentley responded with a 3-pointer of her own to tie the game with 53 seconds remaining. The Lady ‘Landers held the ball for a last second shot, but was denied with Eudy blocked a shot with two seconds left on the clock to send the game into overtime.
Bethany Chambers put Cloudland on the board first in the overtime period, before Mary Chesnut Smith added a free throw for the Lady Vikings. Megan Tennant scored four straight points to put the Lady Vikings up 48-47 with a minute remaining. However, Clarke answered for the Lady ‘Landers with 54 seconds remaining. Bentley would not be outdone, however, as she put Avery back in front with a pair of free throws with 48 seconds left. The Lady Vikings secured the win with a steal from Smith at the end of the overtime period.
Bentley led the way for Avery with 20 points, while Tennant, who missed the first four games of the season, added 10 points, four of which were in the overtime period. Eudy scored eight points.
“We didn’t have Megan last time so we have been playing much better basketball since she came back,” Avery Head Coach Missy Lyons said. “We are still not shooting well and struggling with the shots we should be hitting, but I think we are doing a lot better.”
Cloudland was led by Wilson’s 13 points and Clarke’s 12 points.
“We took a few bad shots down the stretch and missed some free throws, but turnovers practically killed us,” CHS Head Coach Matt Birchfield said. “We had a chance to win big in the early going, but we failed to step up and put them away.”
In the nightcap, the Avery boys jumped out to an early lead with intense defense and never let up en route to the victory. Cloudland opened the game with six straight points from Zac Potter to give the ‘Landers an early 6-4 advantage. Spencer Blackburn scored five points to cap a 7-0 Avery run to give the Vikings the lead, and they used that to run to a 21-11 lead at the end of the frame.
After four Avery points to open the second, Matthew Potter and Michael Hyden sparked a 14-4 run to pull the ‘Landers within four points. The teams traded shots for the rest of the quarter, and Alex Villanueva’s shot at the buzzer gave Avery a 43-36 lead at the half.
Cody Bullwinkle opened the scoring in the third quarter for CHS, but the Vikings went on a 11-2 run to extend their lead to 64-49 at the end of the third. The fourth quarter saw both teams keep fighting as a Kevin Stevens 3-pointer closed the Viking lead to 10 points. However, that was as close as the ‘Lander would get down the stretch.
“It is a great win for us,” Avery Head Coach Bo Manis said. “I think it a win where we need help to see what happens when you work together. No one cared who got the credit, we just wanted to win. We won as a team.”
Villanueva led the way for Avery with 23 points, including a thunderous second-half slam dunk that put the Avery home crowd in a frenzy. Dustin Clarke had 15 points, and Timmy Stewart and Joey Potter had 12 and 11 points, respectively. Colton Blackburn added 10 points to the Viking cause.
“We didn’t come out with the intensity that you’ve got to have on the defensive side,” ‘Landers Head Coach Brandon Carpenter said. “If we don’t play hard on that end then we’re not very good.”
Hyden led the ‘Landers with 21 points, while Potter added 17 points.
AHS was scheduled to host Owen to open Western Highlands Conference play, weather permitting, on Tuesday, Dec. 14. The Vikings will travel to Thomas Jefferson Academy this Friday, Dec. 17, for the first conference road game of the 2010-11 season.
