Spirited Second Half Sends Lady Indians Past Crockett
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
December 7, 2018
JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. -- Dobyns-Bennett scored just one second quarter point and trailed homestanding David Crockett by four at halftime.
Worst of all, coach Bill Francis said the Lady Pioneers had taken the Lady Indians spirit.
But a defensive refocus facilitated a spirited second half that saw Dobyns-Benentt force 21 turnovers and outscore Crockett 45-23 after intermission on the way to a 56-38 Big 7 Conference victory.
The Lady Indians (9-1, 2-0) struggled mightily against a Lady Pioneer 2-3 zone. The D-B zone offense produced a plethora of open looks, but the shots simply failed to fall.
For the game, Dobyns-Bennett made just 21-of-61 field goal attempts.
“We took good uncontested shots,” said Francis. “And when those shots don’t fall it affects the rest of your game and you lose your spirit.”
Meanwhile, Crockett stayed patient on the offensive end. The Lady Pioneers were able to run their offense with few mishaps against the Lady Indians’ gentle man defense.
“(Crockett) Coach (Tony) Gordon had a great game plan,” continued Francis. “They were patient and they wanted a low scoring game. They wanted us to shoot over them.”
The lack of spirit also affected the Lady Tribe’s effort on the glass.
“Sometimes when your shot is not falling, getting offensive rebounds and scoring is the best way to get going,” Francis added. “But we weren’t going after those either.”
Limited to just five points in the first half, Courtney Whitson started the second with seven straight points to pull Dobyns-Bennett ahead, 18-15.
Still leading by just a point at 24-23, the Lady Indians rolled off a 24-2 burst to assume a 48-25 cushion.
“We made some offensive tweaks,” said Francis. “We brought a post up to the foul line to force the zone to tighten up.”
The result was a pair of three-pointers from Bethany Welty late in the third quarter.
“I thought Welty’s two three-pointers were huge,” noted Francis. “Sometimes when one player makes one or two, suddenly everyone starts shooting better and that’s what happened.”
Whitson poured in 20 second-half points to finish with a game-high 25. The senior also knocked down five shots from behind the arc and grabbed six rebounds, including the 1,200th of her career.
Despite the horrid first-half shooting, the Lady Indians eventually saw six different shooters combine to sink a school-record 11 three-pointers, besting the ten made, also against Crockett, in the 2001-02 season, but attempted 36 from beyond the arc to get there.
Also a remarkable 18 assists came on the Lady Indians’ 21 made field goals on the night. Six different players had at least two assists led by four from Jaden Potts and three from Welty.
“We really shared the basketball,” added Francis. “We would have had a bunch more if we made shots in the first half. But it’s beautiful team basketball.”
Whitson added seven rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks to her worksheet. Jabrea Johnson chipped in with eight points while Welty and Caitlyn Wallace finished with six apiece.
Elle Francis, Blaire Batter and Kinzee Mounger all came of the bench to sink fourth quarter three-pointers.
Crockett (2-5, 1-2) got 12 points from Emma Gouge and ten from Emily Trivette. Mackenzie Baldwin tossed in ten points and led all players with eight rebounds.
WHITSON WATCH. Whitson’s 25 points pushed her career total to 1,874, just 126 away from the 2,000 point mark and 138 behind boys all-time leader Bruce Tranbarger at 2,012 … Whitson now trails all-time leader Sasha Morrisette Johnson’s 2,233 mark by 359 points … The game marked the 7th straight contest in which Whitson has scored 24 points or more points.
DOBYNS-BENNETT (56) -- Jaden Potts 0 0-0 0, Bethany Welty 2 0-0 6, Courtney Whitson 10 0-1 25, Peyton Domby 0 0-0 0, Jabrea Johnson 2 3-4 8, Blaire Barrett 1 0-0 3, Megan Ayers 0 0-0 0, Kinzee Mounger 0 0-0 0, Elle Francis 2 0-0 5, Brooklyn Anderson 0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Wallace 3 0-0 6, Ta-Tionna White 0 0-0 0, Emilee Lane 0 0-0 0, Totals 21 3-5 56.
DAVID CROCKETT (38) -- Karolina Palomina 1 1-2 3, Matty McKee 1 0-0 2, Emma Gouge 5 2-4 12, Mackenzie Baldwin 2 1-1 5, Kara Weems 0 0-0 0, Emily Whitson 1 0-0 3, Mattie Miller 0 2-2 2, Carlie Wilson 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Suits 0 1-2 1, Emily Trivette 3 1-2 10, Totals 13 8-14 38.
Dobyns-Bennett | 10 | 1 | 23 | 22 | -- 56 |
David Crockett | 4 | 11 | 10 | 13 | -- 38 |
Three-Pointers - Dobyns-Bennett 11 (Whitson 5, Welty 2, Barrett, Mounger, Francis, Johnson), David Crockett 4 (Trivette 3, Whitson). Rebounds - Dobyns-Bennett 24 (Whitson 7), David Crockett 30 (Baldwin 8). Assists - Dobyns-Bennett 18 (Potts 4, Welty 3), David Crockett 5 (Palomino). Steals - Dobyns-Bennett 10 (Whitson 3), David Crockett 3 (Palomino). Blocks - Dobyns-Bennett 5 (Whitson 2), David Crockett 1 (Gouge). Turnovers - Dobyns-Bennett 13, David Crockett 32. Total Fouls - Dobyns-Bennett 13, David Crockett 11. Technical Fouls - none. Fouled Out - none.