On Friday, Jan. 14, AHS snapped a regular season winless streak dating back more than a decade with a 60-40 rout of the visiting Mitchell Mountaineers, and followed up the win the following afternoon with a 58-37 triumph on the road at Madison.
In its game against the Lady Mountaineers, AHS took a 10-6 advantage after one quarter. Senior Mercedes Bentley hit each of her first three shots and scored eight in the frame. The contest stayed close throughout the second period as neither team’s offense fired with consistency. The Lady Vikings made 6-of-16 shots in the period, while the Lady Mountaineers made 5 of its 11 shot opportunities.
Emily Glenn paced the purple-clad Mitchell club with nine points in the first half, but Bentley countered with another five in the frame for 13 in the half. Teammate Megan Tennant chipped in with eight points in the first half as AHS took a 25-21 lead at halftime.
As the second half began, the Lady Vikings altered its defensive strategy. Rather than employ a full-court press, the Big Red instead opted to play half-court defense and utilized a 1-3-1 zone defense in the third quarter. The Lady Mountaineers reacted by connecting on just 4-of-15 shots in the period (one of which a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer by Glenn). In the meantime, Avery continued to ride the hot hand of Bentley, who connected on another pair of three-pointers in the quarter as the team shot 8-for-16 from the field in the period.
Tennant also tortured Mitchell from inside the paint, as she scored four field goals in the quarter, boosting AHS to a commanding 46-31 lead after three periods.
Over the final eight minutes, the Lady Vikings continued to build its lead as the Lady Mountaineers could not find anyone to consistently score the basketball.
Bentley paced the Big Red with 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, with 18 points and eight rebounds from Tennant. Lauren Burleson scored eight points with 10 rebounds off the bench as she stepped up for senior starter Katelynn Eudy, who was hampered by foul trouble for most of the contest. Glenn led the Lady Mountaineers with 16 points.
“They were doing a good job against our man-to-man defense, so we went to the zone in the second half. They didn’t seem to have anyone who was scoring and Lyndsay [Mitchell guard Lyndsay Jensen] wasn’t hitting her threes, so that helped us to pull away,” Avery head coach Missy Lyons said after the win. “Megan played really strong on the post both offensively and defensively, which also opened things up on the outside for her to get a number of assists and get teammates involved.”
The next day the Lady Vikings traveled to Madison for a contest against the Lady Patriots. Avery pulled ahead with its interior game early in a physical contest and rode a season-best 21 points from junior center Tennant to improve to a perfect 6-0 in conference play.
In the opening period the Lady Patriots proved that they had no problem fouling Avery’s offensive playmakers. Madison amassed 10 personal fouls before the end of the first period. The Lady Vikings shot 16 free throws in the first eight minutes, converting 12, while shooting 5-of-9 from the field in building a 22-11 lead.
In the second quarter the Lady Vikings struggled to hit its shots, making only four field goals in 21 attempts from the field. Both squads combined for more than 30 turnovers in the opening half, but the AHS defense held Madison to a 2-for-15 clip from the field, which helped the Big Red actually increase its lead to 33-16 at halftime.
The two clubs played virtually even in the third period, as AHS used its frontline height and depth to bolster a 43-25 advantage going into the final eight minutes of play. Tennant completed a strong and successful night with seven points in the fourth period to lead the Lady Vikings to its sixth consecutive conference win.
“We felt like we had a post advantage and Megan’s doing a good job of taking the ball inside and getting shots or being fouled. We also spread our offense out a little and wanted to take advantage of that strength,” Lyons said after the win.
“Madison was a scrappy club who played hard but played a little out of control. We also played like them rather than took control of the game. We were a little too aggressive and made too many sloppy turnovers, but hopefully we can get some consistency with practice and into the swing of things will help us get that under control.”
Avery shot 22-of-29 from the free throw line, but made only 26 percent of its shots for the game.
“We did some things well tonight, but our shots didn’t fall and we didn’t execute as well as I’d want us to,” Lyons said. “Some of that may be due to our practice schedule and not getting a lot of quality practice time in with the weather, but we hope that getting into our regular practice schedule again will help us get back to playing more consistently.”
The Lady Vikings traveled to take on the Owen Warlassies in Swannanoa last Tuesday, Jan. 18. The team’s home game scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20, against West Wilkes has been cancelled, but Avery will take on Thomas Jefferson Academy at the Viking Octagon this Friday, Jan. 21.
