Tanna Sagraves looks for a pass on Monday night.
Kristian Russell | Elkin Tribune
BOONVILLE — On a cold and rainy Monday night, the Starmount Lady Rams were back in action after a two week quarantine. The Lady Rams hosted the Lady Cardinals of East Wilkes in a Mountain Valley Athletic Conference game that was packed with turnovers and fouls. It was a low scoring game for both sides of the court, but it was the visiting Cardinals who came up with the 29-26 win.
The first eight minutes of the game went to the home team, as they out-scored East Wilkes 4-0. The first points of the game were scored by Katlyn Walker in the second minute. Walker drove to the basket and took one step back for a perfect jump shot. The basket gave Starmount a 2-0 lead with 6:20 left in the quarter.
Three minutes later, after three East Wilkes turnovers, the Rams put up their second basket of the quarter. Emma Freed received a pass from Emily Brewer and drove to the basket. Freed’s shot went through the hoop, and the Rams had a 4-0 lead with three minutes left in the opening quarter. The points by Starmount would be the only points scored in the first quarter. East Wilkes was unable to come up with a basket, as they accumulated six turnovers in the first eight minutes. After one quarter, Starmount led East Wilkes 4-0.
After putting up zero points in the opening eight minutes, the Lady Cardinals knew they had to turn things around in the second quarter. After two free throws from Freed put the Rams up 6-0, the Cardinals had the ball on their offensive end. Briley Church took the ball down the court and passed it off to Kiersten Johnson. Johnson put a shot towards the basket, but it rolled off the hoop and fell to the side. Waiting for the rebound was East Wilkes’ Kaleigh Couch, who wasted no time coming up with the ball. Couch immediately put the shot back up towards the basket, and the Cardinals were on the board. After nine scoreless minutes, East Wilkes trailed Starmount 6-2.
Starmount did not let the basket phase them, as they were able to knock down two more points just 32 seconds later. Brewer nabbed a basket from the key to give the Lady Rams an 8-2 lead with 6:50 left before halftime. It seemed as though the games was looking towards the Lady Rams’ favor, until the tide turned and East Wilkes started to pick up its tempo.
From the sixth minute of pay until the horn sounded for halftime, the Cardinals put up eight points. Freshman, Johnson, had several rebounds for the Cardinals, which resulted in her scoring two baskets and coming up with two assists. Church and Couch also added points for the Cardinals throughout the half. When the second quarter finished, the Lady Cardinals made a comeback to take a 10-8 lead at the break.
After the teams had a chance to regroup at halftime, both sides were looking to improve throughout the second half. East Wilkes knew they had to cut down on their turnovers, while Starmount needed to capitalize on offense. The home team opened up the third quarter with a basket by Freed, which tied the game 10-10. This would be the last time the Lady Rams were tied with the visiting team, as the Cardinals went on a scoring run.
Over the next four minutes of the quarter East Wilkes scored seven points, while the home team scored two. East Wilkes’ points came from the hands of Killian Warren, Johnson, and Lily Brown. Warren put up her two points with a drive to the basket, while Johnson hit a free throw and a jump shot. Brown put her name on the score sheet with a steal which resulted in a breakaway lay-up. With less than two minutes left to play in the third quarter, the Lady Cardinals led Starmount 17-12.
Before the quarter ended, the Lady Rams nabbed one point off of a free throw by Eden Hutchens. The free throw cut East Wilkes’ lead to five points as the game rolled on to the fourth quarter.
The final eight minutes of the game were heated for both sides of the court. Both teams managed to put up double digits as they were vying for the conference win. Things started with the Rams cutting East Wilkes’ lead to two points. The home team then tried to put up a full court press to catch the Cardinals off balance, but the visitors hand a different idea. East Wilkes went on a seven points scoring run to take a 22-15 lead over the Rams with 5:32 left to play.
Just when it seemed things were settling into place for the visitors, Starmount made a roaring comeback. The Rams started to pick up their pace on both defense and offense. Offensively, five different Starmount players put up baskets over the course of five minutes. At the 1:01 mark, the Lady Rams were within six points of the Cardinals. Hutchens stole the ball from East Wilkes and made her way down the court. Before she made it to the basket, she passed the ball off to a wide open Walker. The senior raced towards the hoop and put a jump shot through the net to bring Starmount two points closer to East Wilkes. With 1:01 left to play in the game, the Rams trailed East Wilkes 29-25.
East Wilkes tried to keep the ball out of Starmount’s hands, but the home team was not going to let that happen. The cardinals turned the ball over twice in the span of 30 seconds due to Starmount’s defensive pressure. Although the visitors had a few turnovers, Starmount was unable to capitalize on the mistakes. The only point to come from the turnover was a foul shot by Tanna Sagraves, which made the score 29-26. With 18 seconds left to play, the Lady Rams put all of their strength into tying the game, but the shots did not fall. When the final horn sounded, East Wilkes landed a 29-26 MVAC win over Starmount.
With the loss, Starmount is now 1-2 in the MVAC. The win brings the Lady Cardinals to 2-2
Kristian Russell may be reached on Twitter @yadkinelksports.