Lady Pioneers hold on for narrow win
The freshman Lady Pioneers had to hold off a fourth-quarter charge to secure a 53-50 win over Oakland at the Charlie Dalton Gym Thursday night.
WCHS opened up an early lead in the first period, taking a 13-4 advantage by the final three minutes of the first quarter. Oakland closed out the period with six more points as Warren County added a foul shot from Kara Youngblood and McKenna Rhea hit a 3-pointer to give the Lady Pioneers a 17-10 lead.
In the second period defensive pressure by Oakland slowed Warren County’s offense for the first three minutes of the play as Oakland cut the lead to 19-16. Youngblood drove the baseline for two and was fouled sending her to the line, hitting her foul shot to take advantage of the three-point play to give Warren County a 22-16 lead. The Lady Patriots would score the last three points of the first half, but still trailed Warren County 32-23.
Both teams stared slow in the second half with Warren County sending the Lady Patriots to the line five times in the period but Oakland was only able to hit for four points from the line. Krista Dilllard picked things up for Warren County as she hit for four of the Lady Pioneers’ 10 points in the period giving them a 42-33 lead going into the final period of play.
Oakland picked its defensive pressure up in the final period which created several turnovers by the Lady Pioneers and gave the Lady Patriots a chance to cut into Warren County’s lead and pull within five with 2:34 left in the game at 50-45.
The Lady Pioneers went to the line three times over the next minute of play and came away with only one point, letting Oakland pull within three points at 52-49 when Lady Patriot Charisse Eskridge hit from the paint and was fouled to convert a three-point play. Oakland stopped the clock with two seconds left to send the Pioneers to the line were they hit one of two to seal the victory.
For the Lady Pioneers, Youngblood led the way with 16 points. Alysa Lankford had eight, Rhea and Lauren Patterson had seven points each. Trista Dillard and Krista Dillard had five points each. Nikki Griffith had three and Bethany King added two points. Warren County was 12-of-25 from the line while Oakland went to the line 32 times, hitting 12.
For Oakland, Tikedra Jones had 21 points with Shanika Smith hitting for nine and Megan Willams adding seven to led the Lady Patriots in scoring.