On Friday, Jan. 21, the Lady Vikings welcomed the Thomas Jefferson (TJCA) Gryphons to the Viking Octagon. If it had been an option, TJCA might have tapped out in submission to the superior Big Red. However, the team played the contest to its duration, with the Lady Vikings earning its fifth straight win and 11th win in its last 12 games with a 74-20 triumph.
In its contest with the Warlassies, both teams had trouble holding on to the basketball, turning it over in unusually high numbers. Piled onto its inability to consistently possess the ball, the Lady Vikings connected on only 4-of-18 shots in the first period. Owen fared little better, hitting 4-of-14 shots, as the teams were knotted at 9-9 after eight minutes of play.
The AHS press defense continued to do its work in the second period of turning the Warlassies over, while the offense improved both its ball protection and shooting. Lady Viking senior forward Katelynn Eudy heated up from the floor, making 3-of-4 shots in the stanza for six points, while junior teammate Megan Tennant continued her recent torrid offensive production, netting six points in the half herself to bolster.
Defensively, AHS forced 15 Owen turnovers for the half, while a 10-1 scoring run in the second stanza boosted the Lady Vikings to a 21-12 halftime lead.
Throughout the second half, the Warlassies continued to employ a physical brand of basketball, but the Lady Vikings continued to persevere, finding space inside with crisp passing and accurate touch inside the paint. Sophomore Kelsie Clarke netted a pair of layups in the third period, with five points from Eudy, four points from Tennant and three from Savannah Dellinger to help AHS take a 39-24 lead after three periods.
The pair of Eudy and Tennant combined for all six Lady Viking field goals in the final eight minutes, as the Big Red earned a hard-fought 14-point win.
Eudy led all scorers with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting, with 11 rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks. Tennant added a double-double of her own with 14 points and 10 rebounds, in addition to three rebounds and two blocked shots. Dellinger scored five points, with four apiece from Clarke and Lauren Burleson.
Shae Frizsell led the Warlassies with 14 points, with nine points from Tori Falls. The Lady Vikings forced 31 Owen turnovers in the win.
“I felt we didn’t play well, but they didn’t either. I thought we rebounded well, and Eudy really got going in the second half, as she hasn’t had a big game in a while,” Avery head coach Missy Lyons said after the win. “We did have a lot of turnovers but our defense stepped it up at times. Owen is always a hard team to play over there, so I thought we pulled it out and played maybe a bit better than I thought we would.”
Clarke tallied seven points in the first period with a pair of baskets by Eudy, as Dellinger and Shayna Vance each came off the Viking bench to net a three-pointer giving the Big Red a 19-7 lead after one period.
From there, the defense stood tall, holding TJCA without a field goal for the remainder of the half. Only a Victoria Bennett free throw prevented the Gryphons from a scoreless quarter. AHS’s offense, meanwhile, continued to roll. Eight different players scored in the half as the Lady Vikings outscored TJCA 16-1 in route to a 35-8 halftime edge.
The second half was a formality as Lyons played each player extensive minutes in the game. AHS led 52-15 after three periods and put its foot on the pedal in the final eight minutes en route to the 54-point win.
Clarke led the Lady Vikings with 18 points, with 12 from Dellinger, nine from Mercedes Bentley, eight each from Eudy and Burleson, seven from Tennant and six from Vance.
“What we tried to do tonight was try to mix it up to give all the girls a chance to play and have girls play some different spots, which could help us later in the season,” Lyons said. “We wanted to have a better shooting percentage tonight and less turnovers as goals and we feel good about being able to do that. We wanted to do a good job communicating better on defense, and be able to switch up and substitute and rotate, and all the girls did a great job.”
The Lady Vikings were scheduled to host Hendersonville in Western Highlands Conference action on Tuesday, Jan. 25, and will travel to Mountain Heritage this Thursday, Jan. 27, to make up an earlier postponed game, and will finish the week with a trip to Polk County this Friday, Jan. 28.
