Donaldson’s 16-point game leads Andrews to win
Andrews – In a game closer than fans would have wanted, the Andrews girls varsity basketball team defeated Summit Charter 44-26.
The Wildcats started the Dec. 4 game with points in the paint to take a 5-0 lead when Summit called their first timeout. After a slow first quarter, Andrews led 7-2.
Summit came out in the second quarter and tied the game at only 1:30 in. The Lady Wildcats immediately drove down the court to reclaim their lead.
With two minutes left in the second quarter, Rileigh LeQuire drained a 3-pointer to give the Lady Cats a 10-point lead. As the first half was winding down, the Lady Cats began to pick up the pace and took a 19-9 lead into halftime.
The Lady Wildcats still looked a bit lethargic in the third quarter, when both teams scored eight points each heading into the final frame.
Andrews extended its lead with five points in the first minute of the fourth quarter. The Wildcats then piled on the points for their highest-scoring quarter of the game, getting 17 points in the fourth for the win.
Kylie Donaldson led the Lady Wildcats with 16 points. Knox Davis was the only other Lady Wildcat in double digits with 13 points. Drea Cutshaw led the team in rebounds with 11, while Chanteah Rattler led the team in assists with four.
The Lady Cats had 18 points in transition and 20 points off of turnovers. Half of their points came in the paint, and they also had 18 steals and 16 deflections.
“For about five minutes, we played well. Other than that, we had a really bad game. We didn’t play well at all,” head coach Tim Wood said.
“Again, we didn’t do the little things well. I think we took for granted Summit Charter coming in here because they’re building. They played really hard. They out-hustled us on the boards, especially the first three quarters. They outworked us. …
“We’ve got to do better or it’s going to be a long season.”
Wood pointed out what they will do to prepare for this week’s tough matchups.
“If we play like we did tonight, I think we get beat next week. We’ve got to get in the gym and work. We’ve got to get our minds right. We’ve got to focus on getting better and improving,” he said.
“We’re talented, but we just have games where we don’t do the little things well, we let frustrations get to us and get us out of our game. I think in practice, that’s something we’ll talk about a lot. The girls work hard everyday in practice, and we’re going to keep on doing that until it comes together.”
The Lady Wildcats go to Tuscola today, then travel to Cherokee on Friday. They return home at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17, to take on Robbinsville.