Worth County continued its 35-year record of futility at South Harrison as the boys lost 52-45 in Bethany and the girls fell to the running clock. The boys have only won there two times in 35 years; the 1993-94 team that won the GRC Title won there. The 2006-2007 team that won 19 games and finished second at the Bethany districts in Class 2 lost at Bethany during the regular season but got a second chance thanks to the district placement and beat South Harrison in its second try.
The Tigers had every expectation of breaking that cycle since South Harrison had only won one game so far this year. But South Harrison looked nothing like a one-win team and Worth County continued its pattern of letting players run wild on them. The Tigers led a back and fourth struggle at the break; they led by as much as four and trailed by as much as five before leading 17-16 at the break. But then they lost their composure in the third quarter as South Harrison put on a press and Worth County could not figure out how to break it until the Bulldogs had built up a nine point lead at one point.
Worth County fought back to come back to within 35-31 after three, and stayed within five early in the fourth at 39-34. But then some defensive lapses where nobody got back burned them as they fell behind by 11 again at 45-34. Worth County fought back two more times to within four and had one chance to make it one possession, but they gave up a layup off a steal. The Tigers, who only had been averaging seven assists for the season, nearly doubled that in Tuesday night's matchup, getting 13. They had been averaging 19 turnovers a game this year; they committed too many critical ones against South Harrison. Finally, they had to start fouling and South Harrison was able to complete the win at the line.
Josh Warner led the scoring with 16 for the Tigers. Mason Hawk, Drake Kinsella, and Cade Allee all had 8 points. Chris Alarcon had 3 and Ryan McClellan had 2. Free throws were a killer for Worth County as they were three for 12 from the line. The foul calls were almost even, but South Harrison made 11 out of 15, which accounted for the difference in the game. And nobody could guard Darin Williams, who was slashing to the basket and hitting jumpers with people all over him to lead South Harrison with 22 points.
Worth County's girls were playing shorthanded as they were playing without Sydney Thummel, who was in Jefferson City shadowing Rep. Allen Andrews. They will get Thummel back, but Kaitlyn Davidson was shaken up during the game and had to leave. She was in crutches at school the next day. In the meantime, the girls lost 58-22 as they did not have an answer for South Harrison's skyscrapers, who were rebounding the ball at will. The girls have had their record of futility in Bethany, including one time in which they were called for 10 seconds when South Harrison was not even pressing. The hacking and fouling that plagued Worth County against Princeton cost them; South Harrison went to the line 27 times and made 17 free throws; Worth County was 1 for 5 from the line. That accounted for almost half of Worth County's deficit. The officials treated the game as a foregone conclusion; they allowed a lot of rough play to go uncalled throughout the contest.
Kaitlyn Davidson led the Tigers with 7 points. Aubrey Ragan, pressed into extended playing time due to foul trouble and the Tigers being shorthanded, followed with 5. Sidney Troutwine had 4 and Rikky Hunt, Ally Buffington, and Payton Adwell had 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment