|
Lady Lions, Hawks win county clashes By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor  | Photo by Barry Burleson
Holly High’s Rachel Selman (3) “hooks up” inside with H.W. Byers’ Kourtney Coleman (15). |
If
one has to face a perennial, it is probably best if the trial is on
familiar turf. And this worked for the Byers Lady Lions Friday night as
they renewed their regular season rivalry with the Holly High Lady
Hawks. The Lady Lions owned a hefty lead in the
early parts of the first quarter. Coach Jason Thompson soon relieved
all of his starters. The replacements mounted a stifling defense which
was super stingy and held the Lady Hawks to four points, 21-4. The
Lady Lions continued to “rack and sack ’em” in the second. Holly High
was getting much better returns on their shots. However, the Lady Hawks
were still having major problems with the Byers’ defense. It was 45-20
at intermission. In the third frame, the Holly
High girls were not losing for lack of hustle. Their play was just as
intense as it was in the first two quarters. The Lady Lions were
shooting with deadly accuracy and built up a 36-point lead at 60-24 in
the third. In the fourth, Holly High was still
being beaten on the breaks and rebounds And it didn’t help that Abria
Gulledge was still filling the nets with treys. The Lady Lions (4-1)
rolled to a 72-35 win. A. Gulledge finished with 18 points. Next was Kyra Gulledge with 14 and Kourtney Coleman with 11. Megan Crittle led Holly High (0-4) with 17, followed by Rachel Selman with nine. Lions fall short  | Photo by Barry Burleson
Gerald Jones (20) of Holly Springs High School takes the ball from H.W. Byers’ Chris Echols (33). |
The
Lions had the task of facing a second long-standing rival in the same
week. They had met the Byhalia Indians on Tuesday evening. They dropped
that one in an overtime decision. Both teams were a little slow in
coming off the blocks on Friday night. Byers struck first and took a
4-0 lead before Jonathan Bownes and Javian Agnew entered the game for
the visitors. The Hawks went to 7-4 at the end of the opener. Like
the game earlier in the week, these rivals are separated by a couple of
classes. So far, this was not a lopsided runaway as one might expect.
The Lions were giving as much as they were taking. And at the break it
was 15-14 with Holly High on top. It was a low
scoring affair with a low incidence of fouling. Through three complete
quarters there had been a grand total of nine infractions. The Hawks
were getting to the line more often than their opponents and they hit
about 70 percent of their freebies. They led by a 10-point margin at
the end of three. The Lions were still grinding
away at the Holly High defense. In the fourth, first-year Byers head
coach Trey Lawrence, still seeking his first win, was pulling out all
of the stoppers. Down by seven in the last minute, Byers blasted a trey
which diluted the Hawks’ lead to four. There was not enough time for
the Lions to make the threat solid and they lost 43-36. Bownes paced the winners with 11. Gerald Jones backed him with 10. Agnew pitched in eight, which include a pair of threes. Shantez Hearn led the home team with 18. Both
boys’ teams took part in the Holiday Classic at Senatobia on November
22-23. Holly High girls participated, but not the Lady Lions. |
