JV Girls Remain Unbeaten in Conference Play
The Avery Lady Vikings (AHS) junior varsity continued its streak of impressive victories, cruising to a 60-9 win against the Hendersonville Lady Bearcats.
AHS led 9-2 after one quarter, but jumped to a 24-6 halftime advantage. The Big Red defense held the Lady Bearcats to only three points over the final two periods en route to the impressive win.
A total of 10 Lady Vikings scored points in the win, led by 10 points and four steals from Bre Heaton. Katie Rigdon and Taylor Hobbs chipped in with eight points apiece, while Shannon Smith added six points and nine rebounds.
“We knew it should be an easy game, so we tweaked our lineup, which worked really well, giving everybody a chance to play and everybody did a really good job,” head coach Pat Daniels said after the win. “The team played really well together and everybody stepped in and never missed a beat. Everybody played good team ball.”
The contest at Mountain Heritage proved to be one of the toughest games of the season to date for the Big Red. The Lady Vikings persevered, however, behind a 28-point effort from Heaton to earn a 52-44 road win.
AHS led 11-8 after one quarter thanks to three three-point baskets from Heaton, and doubled its lead by halftime to 20-14 as Jessie Ramsey chipped in with four points in the second stanza.
Heritage hung around in the contest using its physical play and tall frontline. Avery countered by using its press defense and pushing the basketball up the floor with every offensive opportunity. The Lady Vikings forced several Lady Cougar turnovers in the third quarter in taking a 33-24 lead going into the final period. Heaton heated up with several layups off steals in the final quarter, while teammate Hobbs scored five of her seven points for the game in the last period to propel the Big Red to the win.
“It was a physical game. A couple of girls were elbowed hard and there were no calls by the official,” Daniels said. “Taylor played a good game for us and she has picked up her game. She seems to like playing at power forward and has rebounded the ball well. Sela [Pittman] also played a great game and picked up several rebounds, giving a strong effort when we had some foul trouble. Mountain Heritage is a good team, and our defense picked it up in the second half.”
In the Polk contest the Lady Vikings was victorious by only three points, and the Big Red set out to make a statement on the home floor of the Lady Wolverines. AHS did just that, hammering the Lady Wolverines by a 49-33 final score.
AHS jumped out to an early lead, taking a 16-4 advantage after one period and a commanding 37-11 lead at halftime.
The Lady Vikings took the foot off the gas pedal in the third period and the Lady Wolverines cut the AHS lead to 41-24 after three periods. The contest was never in doubt however, as AHS scored at the free throw line to salt away the game and another Viking victory.
Heaton continued her torrid scoring pace with 26 points in the win, in addition to five assists and four rebounds. Rigdon added nine points and five steals, with five points and six rebounds from Woody.
“The referees had only had us play six minute quarters when we played Polk at home the first time, and with us only beating them by three points, the Polk coach convinced herself that they would have beaten us had the game had seven minute quarters. I told our girls that we need to go out and show them the kind of team we have. They came out with fire in the first quarter and took it to them early,” Daniels said. “We played a full game this time and the girls have been playing great defense the past couple of games.”
JV Boys Evens Score with Hendersonville, Falls Short in Road Contests
Last week the AHS junior varsity boys squad made a statement at home with its 59-54 win over Hendersonville. The Vikings could not carry the momentum into the week’s remaining games, however, dropping a 51-33 loss at Mountain Heritage and a heartbreaking 57-55 defeat on a buzzer-beater at Polk County.
Avery grabbed a 13-11 lead over the Bearcats after one quarter of action, but a strong second quarter led by seven points off the bench from Zack Guy and a stifling team defensive effort pushed the Big Red to a 32-19 halftime lead.
The Vikings carried the momentum of the first half into the third period, extending the lead to 45-30 after three quarters. Hendersonville made things interesting with a late scoring spurt, outscoring AHS 24-14 in the final seven minutes, but it was too little too late as the home team celebrated the win.
Guy finished the game with a season-high 13 points, while teammate Lane Smith also netted 13 points. Luke Wotell chipped in with 10 points off the bench. Bryce Pittman added eight points, with seven from Chance Watson.
The Vikings were unable to experience the same success in its matchup with the Mountain Heritage Cougars. Avery fell behind 14-2 after one period and was never able to catch up against a tall and athletic Cougars club. Smith led the Vikings with eight points in the contest, with seven from Wotell and five points from Pittman.
AHS bounced back in its final game against the Wolverines. The teams were tied at nine points apiece after one period, but the Vikings seized control in the second stanza, leading by as many as 12 points in the period before taking a 25-20 advantage into halftime.
Typical of the closeness of the contest, Polk stormed back in the third quarter to regain the lead at 37-35. For the remainder of the contest, the teams played nip and tuck as neither club could gain more than a one possession lead on the scoreboard.
“Heritage came out early and knocked us back on our heels and just couldn’t recover. The kids were just overmatched that night and the home court advantage definitely helped Heritage. Polk was a back-and-forth game of scoring runs. If we had been a little smarter with a 12-point lead maybe we could have sealed it and put the game away. The kids fought hard to get back into the game. I saw some good things,” boys JV coach Reggie Oakes said after the week’s games. “The game really came down to who had the ball last. Unfortunately they made the play with their last possession to win the game. I thought Luke played well for us inside and Payton [Lowery] played well before fouling out. We need to work to get the ball inside more, and is something we will focus on for the rest of the season.”
The Vikings host three opponents during this week and end regular season play on the road. AHS hosted Madison on Tuesday, and makes up a rescheduled game with West Wilkes this Wednesday, Feb. 2. The team hosts Mountain Heritage this Friday, Feb. 4, and will make the short trip to Ledger to take on the Mitchell Mountaineers this Monday, Feb. 7.
