Thursday, January 17, 2013

Shorthanded Tiger Girls Fall to King City

The Worth County girls were shorthanded Tuesday night as Haven Schottel did not play (concussion). Without Haven, the Tigers dug into a big hole, battled back into single digits, but came up short against King City as they lost 43-34.

Worth County fell into a 6-1 hole in the first three minutes of the game, but came back as Sidney Thummel drove into two King City defenders like a bowling ball to cut the deficit to 11-7. But then Thummel picked up her second and third fouls and had to sit down. Without Haven, the Tigers struggled bringing up the ball against the King City press and they could ill afford to foul because it would hurt their depth. But they got into too much foul trouble. And not having Haven meant that they did not have enough outside shooting, meaning that Worth County had a hard time finishing around the rim; they shot 13 for 43 from the field. Free throw shooting was another liability for the Tigers as they were 5 for 16 from the line.

The game got into double digits before Coach Bryce Shafar put Sidney back in with the Tigers down 18-6, but she promptly picked up her fourth foul. But Worth County settled down after trailing by as much as 24-9 as Kristen Andrews scored off a drive and Kaitlyn Davidson bulldozed her way in for two straight baskets to make it more manageable at 24-15. Kacey Smyser hit from inside to make it 27-17 right before the half and Worth County got a steal and a chance to cut it to seven, but Claire Andrews' 30 footer was just short of the rim as time expired in the first half.

Worth County struggled against King City's press at the start of the second half, but then King City's Bridgette Bryson got sick and had to come out of the game for a three minute stretch from the five minute to the two minute mark of the third quarter. In the meantime, Claire Andrews got the hot hand, getting behind the King City defense for a layup against the press and got a long baseball pass from Kaitlyn Daivdson. Claire added a 3-pointer and then Rebecca Moore scored off a Kristen Andrews steal to make it 31-26. But then a defensive lapse left Hannah Wood all alone underneath and Bryson came back in to stop the bleeding for King City.

Worth County missed a lot of close shots during the next stretch and King City went back up by double digits at 38-28 with five minutes to go in the fourth, but then Claire Andrews got a long pass from Sidney Thummel behind the press and Kacey Smyser added a pair of free throws to make it 38-32. But then King City got a long possession resulting in a three-point play with 1:59 left to clinch the game and Kristen Andrews' layup at the buzzer was the only other score for Worth County.

Claire Andrews and Kacey Smyser each had 9 to lead the Tigers in scoring. Kristen Andrews and Kaitlyn Davidson had 6 each. Sydney Thummel had 3 and Rebecca Moore had 2.

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