Tigerettes pull away in fourth quarter at Boyd
In a District 8 -A match up at Boyd Monday night, the Lady Broncos fell to the visiting Tigerettes of Watertown 65-57.
The Lady Broncos held their own against Watertown in the first half. Boyd opened up in a zone defense as Watertown worked out of the man-to-man in the first period. The Tigerettes hit two 3-pointers in the opening minutes, but the Lady Broncos fought their way back by working the ball inside to Tabitha King and Amanda Prater, who helped Boyd to 16 points in the quarter.
Prater tied the game at 16-all with 29 seconds on the clock, but Watertowns’ Ciarra Farr gave her team the lead from behind the 3-point arc to close out the period 19-16.
Turnovers by the Tigerettes played a key role in the Lady Broncos’ offense in the second period as Watertown turned the ball over seven times. Down by one with 2:43 left in the half Kati Sutton connected on two 3’s to give Boyd a 29-26 lead. Jennifer Laxton added a pair of free throws to make it a 31-26 game with 1:33 left on the clock, but Watertown answered by hitting four points over the next minute of play to pull within one. Laxton put up a jumper with three seconds left in the half to give Boyd a 33-30 lead at the break.
In the third period Boyd’s offensive plan was to work the ball into the paint. Prater and King pounded the boards as both teams swapped baskets. Audrey Atnip hand the hot hand for Watertown as worked the offensive boards for several second-chance shots by Watertown. The Lady Broncos held a four-point lead with nine seconds left in the period when Stevie Durr hit a 3 and was fouled. Durr stepped to the line and tied the game at 50-50, ending the third quarter.
In the final period Boyd started to run out of gas. Watertown hit two 3’s to open the period and things went downhill from there. Amber Hodge hit one shot from the foul line at the 6:57 mark with Boyd trailing 56-51. Watertown then went on a eight-point run over the next two minutes and led 64-51 with three minutes to play. Watertown spread the court and used the clock over the next two minutes to secure their eight-point victory.
For the Lady Broncos, Sutton had 16 points, Prater had 14, and Laxton added eight points. Hodge and King had seven points each, Mary Reynolds had three and Amber Brewer added two points.
Leading Watertown in scoring was Durr with 19 points, while Atnip netted 18 and Farr hit for 13 points.