Sometimes, when breaking the habit of losing, you are more likely to win ugly. But for a team that has struggled over the last few years, the Tiger girls will take them any way they can get them. And through in another team which has struggled to shake the losing habit, and that is a perfect recipe for an all-out war. But following a bizarre play late in the game, Worth County held on to win 29-23 over archrival Albany to even their record at 1-1. The Tigers were set to play the loser of the King City-Stanberry matchup of the Albany Tournament Friday at 8:30. The victory was the first for new coach Josh Smith; it was not after getting a bunch of grey hairs on his part.
This year's version is based on brackets. With only six teams, this means that teams that played each other in the first round could turn around and play each other again in the final round. Worth County could be pitted against King City, the team that beat them 39-33 in the opening round. In another difference, it is also possible for a team to lose a game and then go on to win the tournament. For instance, Princeton's girls, losers of their first round match with Stanberry, could knock off South Harrison in the second round, play in the championship round, and then knock off the winner of the King City-Stanberry match to win the whole tournament.
Worth County dug itself into a 7-2 hole with 2:50 left as they could do nothing against a stingy Warrior defense. However, Worth County won by shutting down one of Albany's two main weapons, Shelby Fish, holding her to 5 points. But the other weapon, Kristie Sorensen, kept Albany in the game by scoring 15 of Albany's 23 points. She came alive after firing blanks in Albany's other two games against Northeast Nodaway and South Harrison. Worth County climbed out of the hole in the second quarter, limiting the Warriors to one point and taking a 12-8 lead at halftime. They had a balanced attack with five different players getting into the scoring column.
The game continued to be an all-out war, with frustration fouls, grabbing and tearing at rebounds and loose balls, and a lot of jump ball calls. Albany was crashing hard on Kaitlyn Davidson, who figures to be one of Worth County's main scoring options this year, every time she touched the ball down low. But Kaitlyn came alive in the third period for Worth County, getting six in the period. But Sorensen hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to bring Albany right back to within 5 at 20-15. In a defensive struggle of this nature, one defensive lapse can be huge since every possession is important.
Since many teams will likely be keying on Kaitlyn, Coach Josh Smith will be looking for other players to step up and score; Tess Andrews matched a career high with 5 points and hit a dagger 3-pointer to put Worth County up double digits at 27-16. Albany finally got going late in the game, aided by some missed free throws, but they could never get closer than the final score. There was one bizarre play during the closing seconds where Worth County got the possession arrow on a jump ball situation as Albany was frantically trying to get the ball back. However, one of the Albany players took the ball and all the Albany players were turned around, lined up to play offense on the wrong basket. Shelby Fish alertly took it to the correct basket and drew a foul, but the officials correctly wiped out the play since it was a correctable error situation.
Kaitlyn Davidson, despite Albany players grabbing and tearing at the ball all night every time she caught it in the post, had 12 points to lead Worth County. Tess Andrews followed with 5. Alysa Lyle and Sydney Thummel had 4, as did Sidney Troutwine.
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