SPORTS

Westmoreland girls win with shooting quality over quantity

Chris Brooks
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Westmoreland’s Gracie Oliver dribbles into the frontcourt during Friday’s Region 5-AA Tournament game against Lipscomb Academy. Oliver scored 13 points in the Lady Eagles' 41-35 victory.

WESTMORELAND, Tenn. – There weren’t a lot of shots taken by Westmoreland players in their Region 5-AAA Tournament game against visiting Lipscomb Academy on Friday evening.

The Lady Eagles did, however, make the most of their limited scoring opportunities in their 41-35 victory to advance to Monday’s semifinals at White House against Pearl-Cohn.

Westmoreland hit 13-of-24 field goal attempts (54 percent), and fared even better at the free-throw line by connecting on 15-of-16 foul shots.

“Sometimes we’re just not good in that area,” Westmoreland senior Karley Smith said of the free-throw percentage. “It was nice to be good at it tonight.”

The Lady Mustangs were content on lengthening possessions and made it clear early on. Their first possession lasted 50 seconds without a shot, and a possession at the end of the third quarter went 45 seconds without a scoring attempt.

Lipscomb Academy’s Jillian Stephen elevates for a layin against Westmoreland’s Lexie McCormick (11) and Kaitlyn Norman during Friday’s Region 5-AA Tournament game.

“It was big, but at the same time it’d be nice to stop them faster than 30 seconds,” said Smith, who scored 18 points. “Not letting them score is good, but getting a stop is a little bit better than that. (Lipscomb Academy is) pretty fundamentally sound.”

Even though the Lady Eagles didn’t connect on three 3-point attempts, their work from the field was enough to hold off the Lady Mustangs.

“They’re well-coached,” Westmoreland head coach Cherie Abner said. “They had a great game plan and they made us go away from what we do well. It was a pretty sweet victory for me because I’ve been here 20 years and I take pride in having an established defense, and that’s what it came down to.”

Lipscomb Academy shooters hit all four of their free throws, but fared worse from the field, hitting 41 percent of their field-goal attempts (14-of-34).

Gracie Simpson hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep Lipscomb Academy close, finishing with a game-high 19 points.

“We knew it was going to be difficult,” Lipscomb Academy head coach Ryan Roller said. “They’re very good defensively and they just made a few more (shots) than we did.”