George Wythe Lady Maroons win

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

The George Wythe Lady Maroons rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Holston Lady Cavaliers 44-39 in a Hogoheegee District girls basketball game played Friday night at GWHS.

The game was very close for most of the night except late in the first quarter and early in the second when the Lady Maroons increased their lead at one point to 11 points.

But the Lady Cavaliers came back strong late in the first half to tie the game at 21-21 at halftime.

Then Holston outscored GW by two points in the third quarter to take a two-point lead going into the final eight minutes.

But the Lady Maroons started to clamp down on defense to allow only six points in the fourth to get their first district win of the season.

GW improves to 1-3 in the district and 7-7 overall. Holston drops to 0-4 in the district and 3-11 overall.

George Wythe Head Coach Bradley Sutphin said his team at times showed the effects of playing its third game in four days. “I think that showed during some parts of the game,” he said. “We were a little stagnant on the offensive end and had a hard time keeping our defensive intensity. We would get some good looks on offense and couldn’t put them in, and then we would go down to the defensive end and allow a wide open jump shot or a putback on an offensive rebound.”

While the Lady Cavaliers don’t have an outstanding record, they played like a team that is capable of winning its share of games this season. The coach agreed that the Cavs have potential. “Holston played tough, and they are going to do that to a lot of people. They create some mismatches with their height inside. But we got the win and we will take them any way we get them. Hopefully, we will come to play this coming week with some tough games on the schedule.”

George Wythe was scheduled to play Fort Chiswell and Chilhowie on Monday and Tuesday this week. GW is also slated to be home Friday for a quad match against Rural Retreat.

The Lady Maroons were led in scoring by Kristen Atwell with 23 points.

Wolford scored two buckets early for GW to give lead of 2-0 and 4-2, but the Lady Cavs tied it up both times.

Atwell then scored on an outside jumper and added a free throw moments later for a 7-4 GW lead.

Holston closed the gap to 7-6, and GW called a time-out with 2:38 left in the first quarter. The Lady Maroons then outscored the Lady Cavs 8-2 over the rest of the quarter to take a 15-8 lead.

Haley Johnson and Wolford connected on back-to-back jumpers in the opening minutes of the second quarter to give GW its biggest lead of the night at 19-8.

But the Lady Maroons could manage only two points the rest of the half as Holston outscored them 13-6 to tie the game at 21-21 at halftime.

The game remained close throughout the third period with neither team enjoying more than a two-point margin.

Holston led 33-31 going into the fourth quarter, but Atwell began a GW rally with two free throws at the 7:23 mark and then added a stickback about a minute later. Atwell then passed inside to Danielle Williams for a basket to prompt a Holston time-out with 6:11 left in the game.

Atwell completed the 8-0 GW run to start the fourth quarter with two more free throws (she was 5-of-9 from the line), before Holston scored its first bucket about midway in the fourth.

The GW offense cooled off somewhat in the final minutes, but its defense was able to prevent the Lady Cavs from making a comeback.

Holston         8 13 12 6 – 39

G. Wythe      15 6 10 13 – 44

Holston – Hand 8, Boyd 11, Dawes 8, Lowe 10, Patrick 2.

George Wythe – Carrie Lynn Wolford 7, Danielle Williams 4, Haley Johnson 6, Kiana Ransome 4, Kristen Atwell 23.

(T – 1:08)