The Walker Valley basketball teams stepped out of district Monday inside
“The Stable” hosting Hamilton Heights in a pair of non-district basketball matchups as the District 5-4A tournament loms just over the horizon.
The Lady Mustangs (11-11) opened the night overcoming a sluggish first half to pull off a 52-44 win over the Lady Hawks (9-12). The Mustangs 15-8),punched and counter punched the Hawks in the closer, but could not fend off a late run by Hamilton Heights 20-3) falling 73-30.
Chloe Poe and Jalaya Lindsey as well as Madison Bischof had a huge night for Walker Valley as the Lady Mustangs celebrated a Senior Night win over Hamilton Heights. Poe walked away with a game-high 18 points while Lindsey popped in 14 and Bischof added 12.
But, the final score didn't tell the whole story, particularly early, as the Lady Hawks shoved their way to 15-7 first quarter lead. A low scoring second quarter saw HH take a 22-13 advantage into the half.
“We had 13 points in the first half. That was not fun. Halftime was not fun,” said Lady Mustangs head coach Paul Sausville. “But, we figures some stuff out. Coach “P” (Matt Parris) and coach Sarah (Sausville) figured some stuff out. They inverted our motion offense and we ran a different triangle, it was a great adjustment for us.”
The changes worked in the third as the Walker Valley girls went to town outscoring the Lady Hawks 16-8 with Poe stripping the nylons from NBA distance at the buzzer to put the Lady Mustangs out front for the first time at 31-30.
Maliyah Woods added a 3 to open the fourth quarter to open the gap to 34-30. Bischof followed with a 2-pointer and Poe finished the 11-0 run with another trey that put the Lady Mustangs out front 52-44.
The Hawks cut the lead to 55-40 with 1:15 left on the clock, but with a limited bench, Hamilton Heights was forced to play with four and then three Lady Hawks as fouls took its toll down the stretch.
“Our girls, we just D-ed up in the second half. That was a lot of fun,” said Sausville. “We just got after them in the full court. We got them to turn the ball over and we just started making buckets.”
Walker Valley pushed in 6 of 6 free throws with less than 30 seconds left on the clock to seal the win.
“Four yes, but not three,” Sausville said of the limited numbers for Hamilton Heights. “He (HH head coach Melvin Williams) told me before the game he only had six because one was sick. I feel for him but, we'll take it. It's Senior Night so we're celebrating our seniors tonight. You saw the seniors start the game and you saw them end the game and that's kind of special for them to contribute that much and play that well together.”
The Lady Mustangs will finish up the district schedule with games at Rhea County Friday before closing with McMinn County Thursday.
In the bosy game, the Mustangs, after trailing 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, dialed in from 3-point range in the second to scorch the nets for 34 points with 30 coming from long distance. Turner Clayton's opening 3 sparked a 34-17 run that put Walker Valley out front 44-32 at halftime.
Clayton, Landon Shirk and Graham Campbell showed out in the second eight minutes with Shirk pouring in 15 points from long distance while adding a duece from conventional range. Clayton added nine points in the run while Campbell added six points to the outburst.
Shirk finished his night with a 22 point performance including an impressive six 3-point performance for the Mustangs while Clayton ended with 15 including four 3s. Campbell added 13 with nine points coming from distance.
“We shot it unbelievably in the first half,” said Mustangs skipper Will Campbell. “I knew we probably wouldn't shoot it quite that good in the second half. But, we battled. I thought our guys competed. That's a tough team.”
The Hawks showed their toughness in the second half cutting a 44-32 Walker Valley lead to 55-48 as the 3s disappeared from the Mustangs' repertoire.
The battle raged on in the final eight minutes as the Hawks caught and passed the Mustangs with just over four minutes left to play. A pair of free throws by Cash Coates cut the HH lead to 69-68 with 1:55 left to play, but the Mustangs were unable to turn the tide in the closing seconds missing on a last second 3-point shot as time ran out.
“Our guys battled and that's all you want, to come out and fight and compete. Obviously, we would have like to have held on for the win,” said Campbell. “I'm not disappointed with our effort and how we competed. Moving forward into the tournament I think that's a good one as a little bit of a measuring stick. They are the fourth ranked team in the state across all classifications and we took them to the wire.”
Girls Summary:
Hamilton Heights 15 7 8 14 — 44
Walker Valley 7 6 16 21 — 52
Hamilton Heights (44) – Aisse Couzlbaly 17, Tanah Becker 11, Evie Moore 10, Hickman 1, Jugovic 5, Burnham 10, Burnham.
Walker Valley (52) — Chloe Poe 18, Jayala Lindsey 14, Madison Bischof 12, Pierce 3, Woods 5, Hicks, Southerland, Earls, Cox.
3-point goals: Hamilton Heights 4 ( Couzlbaly 2, Becker, Moore); Walker Valley 4 (Poe 2, Pierce, Woods).
Free throws: Hamilton Heights 16 of 23; Walker Valley 12 of 20.
Records: Hamilton Heights 9-12; Walker Valley 11-11.
Boys Summary:
Hamilton Heights 15 17 16 25 — 73
Walker Valley 10 34 11 15 — 70
Hamilton Heights (73) – Viktor Mikie 23, Kevin DeKovanich 20, Kamaic Samuels 15, Bryson Andrews 12, Richards 3, Munyika.
Walker Valley (70) — Landon Shirk 22, Turner Clayton 15, Graham Campbell 13, Davis 2, Cae. Coates 2, Sausville 3, Campbell 4, Smith 2, Cas. Coates 7.
3-point goals: Hamilton Heights 7 ( Andrews 4, Samuels, Mikie, Richards); Walker Valley 13 (Shirk 6, Clayton 4, Campbell 2, Coates, ).
Free throws: Hamilton Heights 11 of 22; Walker Valley 6 of 7.
Records: Hamilton Heights 20-3; Walker Valley 15-8.