Friday, February 6, 2015

Kaitlyn Davidson Hangs 30 on Bobcats as Tiger Girls Win 5th

Worth County's girls picked up their fifth win of the year, 53-35 over East Harrison as Kaitlyn Davidson picked up 30 points and 15 boards to lead the Tigers. It was her third game of 25 or more points as the Tigers took a big early lead, let the Bobcats back in the game at the break, and then pulled away in the second half to get the win.

The Tigers were down to eight players as they were without Alysa Lyle (knee) and Aubrey Staton (shoulder). The focus had to be to stay out of foul trouble. Similarly, East Harrison only dressed out eight players. The Bobcats tried to slow the Tigers down right off the bat, taking over a minute before getting the ball to Briley McClain for an open 3-pointer to put them in front. But then Worth County's press began causing problems for the Bobcats; they ran it as well as they have all year. Worth County sought to take away the inside game of post player Harlee Ellsworth, fronting her with Payton Adwell and chasing her around the court for much of the night. But she still got loose twice to keep them in the game in the first quarter. For Worth County, Kaitlyn Davidson had seven points, Sydney Thummel had 4, and Ally Buffington 2 as they led 13-9 after one quarter. East Harrison tried a press of their own, but Sydney Thummel drove right through it for two of her four points. Kaitlyn added a block in the period. Payton Adwell had 2 assists and Kaitlyn and Ally had one each.

Rikky Hunt had a career night with 10 points for the Tigers and she scored four quick points right off the bat to put Worth County up 17-9. She has been getting more and more aggressive getting to the rim, something that the team will count on her to do a lot of next year when four of their seniors graduate and she will have to step up. Kaitlyn continued to be a force on the boards despite going up against the taller East Harrison defenders; she collected 10 points in the second as Worth County pushed ahead to a 28-17 lead. But then Briley McClain got the hot hand, hitting her third 3-pointer of the half to put the Bobcats back in contention; she converted the four-point play on one to give East Harrison a lift going into halftime only down 28-23 after Kala Thompson hit a shot near the end of the second period. Sydney Thummel had a block in the period; both Sydney and Kaitlyn had an assist in the frame.

For Worth County to regain control, someone besides Kaitlyn had to step up and do the scoring and they had to limit McClain on defense. They succeeded on both counts; Sydney Thummel got a steal and cleaned up on a miss to jumpstart Worth County in the third; from there, the press worked as well as it has all year while Kaitlyn continued to remain a constant on the offensive end for Worth County. Rikky Hunt led the scoring with 6, while Davidson followed with 5 and Sydney Thummel had 3. Tess Andrews, Sydney Thummel, and Payton Adwell had assists in the period while Kaitlyn Davidson picked up her second block. East Harrison started getting into foul trouble in the period with Thompson picking up her fourth in the period. Worth County outscored East Harrison 14-3 to put the game out of reach, leading 42-26 after three.

Kaitlyn had 8 more in the fourth period to break the 30-point barrier for Worth County. Sidney Troutwine collected the other three for the Tigers; Ally Buffington had two assists in the period.


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