Long delay doesn’t slow down Lady Blaze
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And while a leaky roof delayed the game for a half-hour, it did little to stop Blackman’s momentum, as the Lady Blaze handed Warren County’s girls a 59-32 loss.
The defeat, the Lady Pioneers’ ninth in a row, dropped their record to 12-14 overall and 1-10 in District 7-AAA play. Blackman improved to 13-12, and upped its league mark to 3-9.
“They haven’t beaten Oakland, Lebanon and Riverdale by mistake,” WCHS coach Ann Eades said of the Lady Blaze. “They’re a very good basketball team, and even better on their home floor.
“They may be the team to reckon with. If I was one of these upper-seed teams, I’d want to stay out of their bracket. Because the tournament’s on their home territory, they’re so physical, and I was impressed with them.”
Both teams got off to a slow offensive start, with Linsey Cornelius putting WCHS on the board first with a layup three minutes into the game. Blackman came to life during the rest of the period, however, with an 11-3 run to take a 13-5 lead by the quarter’s end.
In the second period, Warren County’s defense in the paint attempted to stop Blackman’s potent duo of Nikki Hughes and Alana Hicks. But with WCHS defenders swarming to the inside, Blackman went to the perimeter.
Jennifer Cunningham connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to open the quarter, and the Lady Blaze got a trey each from Thierre Patterson and Megan Carter to expand their lead to 34-11 by halftime.
“You concentrate on Hicks and Hughes, and those weren’t the kids that were killing us the first half,” Eades said. “It was their 3-point shooting.
“But you’ve got to give them all the credit you can give them. They do the things that get the job done.”
Whitney Pelham scored five of her team-high 13 points in the third quarter, but the Lady Pioneers managed just one more field goal in the frame and fell behind by 30 (48-18) by the period’s end.
Already down by a substantial margin, the Lady Pioneers and their fans then had to wait 30 minutes before Blackman administrators and game officials made the decision to move the game to the school’s auxiliary gym to play out the fourth.
Both teams cleared their benches once play resumed, and although the lady Pioneers out-scored their hosts 14-11 in the period, the Lady Blaze’s early damage was more than enough to seal the win.
“We should’ve suspected something,” Eades said of the second half “rain delay.”
“On the way down here, we had leaks all over the bus, so it just sort of goes with the territory and the luck we’re having this season. But we’re going to get everything over with this year, get everything put behind us, and look down the road.”
In addition to Pelham’s 13, the Lady Pioneers got four points each from Leah Cunningham and Jasmine Ware. Alysa Lankford added three, while Vanessa Cornelius, Linsey Cornelius, Katie Simpson and Tia Williams had two each.
Blackman was led by Hughes’ 12 points, while Cunningham and Carter scored 11 each.