Lady Patriots stay on track by beating Coyotes

Blasting West Creek 66-30 Tuesday night in Clarksville shows that the Henry County High School girls’ basketball team understands that their job is to keep winning against District 10-AAA opponents until they face Rossview again on Feb. 7 at Gamlin Gymnasium.

The Lady Patriots improved to 13-5 overall and 8-1 in district play by beat West Creek. Rossview also has an 8-1 record, but owns a win over the Lady Patriots by a narrow 42-39 margin Jan. 13 in Clarksville.

Henry County head coach Cliff Curd said at the time the Lady Patriots needed to win the remainder of their district games and hopefully get a little help along way so that they would be in control of their own destiny in their desire to win the District 10-AAA championship for the first time since 2000.

The Lady Patriots got the help they sought when Clarksville upset Rossview last Friday. Henry County has games at Northwest Friday, at Clarksville Feb. 3 and host Springfield Feb. 4 before the showdown with Rossview. If the Lady Patriots can beat the Lady Hawks for the first time since 2010, the Lady Patriots would only need to beat Northeast Feb. 10 to earn that elusive regular season district title.

On Tuesday at West Creek, junior guard Gracie Osbron tossed in 20 points to help make sure the Lady Patriots stayed on course in the district race.

She scored 15 of those points, including three 3-point baskets, to fuel the Lady Patriots 22-6 scoring run to open the game in the first quarter.

West Creek managed to hold Osbron to just a 3-pointer in the second quarter, but Lady Patriot senior guard Elizabeth Wood hit three 3-pointers in the frame, while sophomore guard Kelli Chipman added five points, including a 3-pointer. Henry County carried a commanding 46-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Lady Patriots kept pouring points in the third quarter with a 16-7 scoring advantage pushing their lead to 62-24. Junior guard Emily Gilstrap hit for five points in the third period, while senior center Natiya Jumper put in four points and Chipman hit her second 3-point shot.

Henry County’s scoring slowed in the closing minutes, and West Creek managed a 6-4 edge in the fourth quarter. Henry County got two baskets from Zoe Haws to complete the Lady Patriots’ 66-30 victory.

Osbron’s 20 points led the Lady Patriots’ scoring list with Jumper adding 10 points and Wood finishing with nine. Chipman contributed eight points, while Gilstrap finished with seven. Caroline Singleton chipped in six points with Haws tossing in four and Allie Jo Shankle scoring two.

West Creek’s Diamond Jones tossed in 15 points for the Lady Coyotes. Alexis Radcliffe scored six points with both Zenay Young and Olivia Fortier hitting for three. Emoni WImberly scored two points, and Kayla Williams chipped in one point.