Bryson City – Andrews girls basketball coach Tim Wood saw a winnable game against Tuscola for his team to open the Maroon Devil Christmas Classic.
He ended up being right, as the Lady Wildcats shook off an early deficit and some foul trouble to stay competitive. Unfortunately for Andrews, it couldn’t get enough shots to fall, eventually making the difference in a 49-44 loss.
“Just couldn’t knock them down,” Wood said. “Nothing was falling. It was really a game that I expected us to compete and possibly win. I felt we had opportunities, too. We played hard.”
Though the Lady Wildcats (1-8 overall) never led, they never let the Lady Mountaineers get too far out in front, either. With Kylie Donaldson on the bench with foul trouble for much of the first half, Andrews fell behind 24-12 in the second quarter before cutting the lead to 29-21 by halftime. Tuscola (3-8) led by seven to 12 points for the whole third quarter before taking a 41-30 lead into the final frame.
Thanks to some full-court pressure, the Lady Wildcats cut the lead to 43-37 about midway through the fourth quarter, with Donaldson hitting a three and then getting a steal and layup to trim the Lady Mountaineers lead to their smallest margin since the first quarter. Andrews would come up with two more steals after that, but came up empty.
Donaldson, who scored a team-high 15 points, fouled out with 3:27 to go, though the Lady Wildcats continued to fight without their leading scorer. A 3-pointer by Americas Lequire trimmed the lead to 45-42 with about two minutes remaining, and it appeared that Tuscola committed a five second violation on the ensuing inbounds play.
However, the officials ruled Lady Mountaineer head coach Heath Sutton called timeout before the turnovers. Madi Conrad and Karsen Cherry would hit two free throws each to seal the Tuscola victory.
Andrews would fall to Hiwassee Dam (5-5) 65-27 and North Stokes (9-5) 51-40 in its other tournament games.
Heading into the new year, Wood likes that his team is handling full-court pressure better and has started converting opportunities from the foul line. But with a team that Wood’s trying to completely rebuild, there’s always things to improve.
Besides the shooting, the Lady Wildcats struggled to take care of the ball in the half court at times, which can end up making all the difference in a tight game. All that goes toward the goal of being more competitive, which Andrews has been this year even if it’s not showing up on the scoreboard just yet.
“I want us to learn, grow and improve and become more competitive every time we play,” Wood said.