Settling in the right direction: Lady Govs start strong, Govs finish fast in WB hoops sweep
By Grant Ramey | (grantr@thedailytimes.com)
Much like the mark of any young basketball team, Kevin Windle’s William Blount squad had to settle in Tuesday night inside Marvin L. Boring Gymasium.
By the end of the night, though, Windle’s Govs found themselves settled into a 62-48 win over visiting Scott and taking another early step in the right direction after finding their tempo in the second half.
“Any time you can get a win, it’s valuable to your team and to your team chemistry,” Windle told The Daily Times after the game.
“(I’m) very proud of our guards at the end, handling the tempo of the game the second half. And that’s what we had to do. We couldn’t play their tempo, you saw that in the first half.”
Cody Mathis led that second half guard play with a game-high 25 points and helping William Blount pull away in the second half.
“When we got to the second half we were able to play our style a little bit better,” Windle said of his team slowing down an athletic Scott team in the third and fourth quarter.
Mathis, a 5-foot-11 senior, had 18 of his 25 in the second half, where WB outscored Scott 39-24 after the Highlanders had taken a 24-23 lead into halftime.
“Mathis had a great game, especially in the third,” Windle said.
Another pair of guards, Austin Haworth and Joel Graham, added 10 each for William Blount (2-2). Taylor DeArmond had 8 and Brandon Tipton and David Kinlaw had 4 each.
“We still got three guys in double figures and one with 8 (points),” Windle said. “That’s important. Any time you get four guys around the double-digit mark, good things are going to happen to you.
“We were able to do a good job defensively on them.”
Jacob Myers led Scott with 14 points and Stephen Butts added 10. Kevon Honeycutt had 7 and Logan Lowe finished with 5.
Treys from Honeycutt and Butts early on helped Scott build a first quarter lead, but William Blount rallied to tie it at 13-13 after opening frame. Myers’ hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded on the first half to give Scott its 24-23 lead going into the break.
William Blount picked up the pace while slowing Scott down in the third behind a 13-point effort from Mathis in the quarter, leading his into a 5-point lead to start the fourth.
“I guess being such a young team, when you first get in the game you’re all jittery and you kind of just wait back a little bit and see, let things happen a little bit,” Windle said.
“Sometimes you have to get going from the get go. From the tip off, you have to get going.”
The Govs had it going in the fourth, outscoring Scott 21-12 to cap the 14-point win.
“We’re very versatile in our styles, but we do want to pick up the pace a little bit on defense,” Windle said. “And we were able to do that a little bit in the second half.”
WB 62, Scott 43
The William Blount girls used six buckets from six different Lady Govs to jump out to a 12-0 lead over the Scott Lady Highlanders en route to a comfortable 62-43 win.
WB’s Haley Talbott led all scorers with 15 points, all scored in the second half. Lindsey Roddy and Amber Click had 9 each and Katie Pyle scored 7. Kristin McGill had 6 while Samantha Henry and Brittany Johnson had 4 each.
Scott was led by Victoria Lloyd’s 13 points.
WB coach Todd Wright subbed out all five starters after the 12-0 lead as the Lady Govs led 17-8 after the first quarters.
Talbott equalled WB’s 10-point second quarter with a quick 10 of her own early in the third. Talbott had a 3-pointer, a 4-point play via a 3-pointer on the next Lady Gov possession and added another trey the next time back down the floor to build the WB lead to 37-21.
