Eagles survive off night for win

By Jerry Holsworth - sports@nvdaily.com

BERRYVILLE -- Missing your first 17 shots from the field in not exactly a recipe for victory in girls basketball, but that is exactly what Clarke County did Monday in its game with Warren County while still managing to come from behind for a 34-31 victory over the Wildcats.

It was in a game that was not pretty, but was played with intensity by both sides from the opening whistle until the last second of play.

"This was just a game where we were able to just gut it out," Eagles coach Tim Lawrence said. "It wasn't a thing of beauty. Both teams played really hard, and our girls made just enough plays to get the win."

The Eagles began the contest looking as though they would never make a basket, missing all 12 of the field-goal attempts in the first quarter. Although Warren County was able to build a 7-1 lead after the first eight minutes, it was hardly an overwhelming advantage.

The Wildcats had problems of their own making field goals, hitting just two of their 11 attempts from the field over the same time period. Their only effective offensive weapon was Alesha Adams, who scored five of Warren County's seven points during the period, and three of those came from the free-throw line.

It was a golden opportunity for the Wildcats to put the game out of reach early, and they just couldn't do it.

Heading into the second quarter, Clarke County missed its first five field goal attempts, giving Warren County another opportunity to expand on its lead. The Wildcats, however, went 1 for 10 from the field over the first six minutes of the period, and the Eagles took advantage of their poor shooting to take the lead at 10-9 on a 3-pointer by Mollie Schoeb with 3:48 left in the first half.

"We just weren't running our offense," Warren County coach John Kelly said. "When we did run our offense we were getting opportunities to score with layups, but we also missed a lot of easy scoring opportunities, too. That was particularly evident in the first half. We really lost this game in the first half."

In fact, Warren County's 7-1 first-quarter lead was the only quarter of the game where the Wildcats outscored Clarke County.

The Wildcats didn't help their cause by committing seven second-period turnovers, but with the Eagles leading 13-11 with a minute to play in the half Lauren Woodrell scored back-to-back field goals to give the Wildcats a 15-13 lead at intermission.

The third quarter was a standoff, where neither side was able to get any separation from the other. Warren County was led by Gabby Turner, who scored five of her seven points for the night in the period.

The Eagles got solid play from Brittany Teasley, whose four points were half of Clarke County's output for the third quarter. Anna Blue Catlett, who had missed all 11 of her field goal attempts in the first half, finally found her range and scored the other four points for Clarke County.

With Warren County holding on to a 22-21 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play, the two teams' aggressive and, at times, out-of-control play turned the final quarter into a free throw shooting contest.

The Eagles committed seven fourth-quarter fouls, but Warren County committed 11 and that proved to be the difference in the game.

"Although our offense wasn't a thing of beauty tonight, I thought that we really played an outstanding game on defense," Lawrence said. "Anytime you only give up 31 points in a game, you're doing a lot right on the defensive end."

Clarke County was only 9 of 19 from the line in the fourth quarter, but the key was the number of free throw opportunities and the fact that Catlett was able to sink a couple of baskets during the period.

Catlett led the Eagles with 12 points, but Teasley's eight points and Schoeb's six points all seemed to come at critical moments in the game.

Adams was the only Wildcat to score in double figures with 13. Turner and Woodrell had seven points each for Warren County.