The Andrews girls varsity basketball team split two games last week.
The Lady Wildcats kicked off the week with a win over non-conference opponents Tuscola, then fell to Cherokee. In their first game last week, the Lady Wildcats defeated Tuscola 54-38.
Tuscola started with five straight points in the first two minutes before Andrews got on the board with a 3-pointer by Demi Davis.
After a scoreless two-minute defensive battle, Tuscola scored to take a 7-3 lead. The final minutes of the first quarter were a back-and-forth battle, with Tuscola still leading until Kylie Donaldson scored on a layup to give Andrews the lead. Donaldson then made three free throws in the final minute to give Andrews a 16-13 lead heading into the second period.
In the opening minute of the second quarter, Andrews missed several scoring chances. Tuscola made the first basket of the quarter to tie the game at 16.
With 1:37 remaining in the second quarter, Andrews got on the board with a 3-pointer by Demi Davis. With 17.6 seconds left, Donaldson converted a free throw to give Andrews a two-point lead the Lady Cats would take into halftime.
Drea Cutshaw got the scoring going for Andrews out of halftime. Cutshaw then cut off a pass, which led to a fast-break layup to give the Lady Cats a six-point lead. She continued to score in the third quarter with 3-pointers to extend Andrews’ lead to 11 points, the first double-digit lead of the game.
Knox Davis got on the scoresheet with a 3-pointer to further extend the Lady cats’ lead. In the final seconds of the third quarter, Donaldson made a layup to give Andrews an 18-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Andrews further extended their lead on free throws made by Alexis Beasley and Chanteah Rattler. Beasley converted more free throws to extend Andrews’ lead to 20 points. In the final minutes of the contest, Tuscola tried to cut into the Andrews’ lead, but they had built a big enough lead to secure the win.
Cutshaw and Donaldson were the only Lady Wildcats in double-digit points with 16 and 12, respectively. Donaldson had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She was four assists short of a triple-double as she had six assists.
Beasley had eight points with six of them coming from free throws. Beasley also had a team-leading 11 rebounds. Knox Davis also had eight points.
To close out their week, the Lady Cats took on their first Big Smoky Mountain Conference opponents in Cherokee. The Lady Wildcats lost 80-29 to the defending 1A state champions.
The Lady Braves got out to a big lead early that the Lady Cats could not catch. Cherokee put up 30 points in the first quarter and 27 more in the second to lead 57-21 at halftime.
Coming out of the half, Cherokee held Andrews scoreless in the third quarter, while the Lady Braves scored 14 more of their own. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Wildcats scored eight points and Cherokee added nine more to win 80-29.
With the loss, the Lady Wildcats move to 3-3 on the season and 0-1 in the SMC. Cherokee remains undefeated at 6-0 and 1-0 in the SMC.
The Lady Wildcats will head to Highlands at 6:30 p.m. today. They will host Smoky Mountain at 6:30 p.m. Friday in their last game before winter break.
When they played Smoky Mountain on Nov. 20, the Lady Cats won 66-63.