This game was a mismatch long before the opening tip at Sale Creek’s Don Burton Court/McEwen Gymnasium.
The Sale Creek Lady Panthers entered Friday’s Region 3-A quarterfinal against the Whitwell Lady Tigers with an impressive 23-6 record while Whitwell’s record was 6-20.
Sale Creek coach Mark Holland was hoping that his girls would get a good game from the Lady Tigers, but it didn’t turn out that way as the Lady Panthers totally dominated en route to the lopsided 53-8 victory. Now Sale Creek has a real challenge on Monday as they face the Van Buren Lady Eagles on their home court after they finished as the District 6-A champion.
Friday’s game was never close as Sale Creek bolted to a 10-0 lead before Layla Holder sank the second of two free throws with 3:01 left for Whitwell’s first point. The difference was 20-1 when the first quarter ended.
The Lady Panthers then scored the first 11 points of the second stanza before Ella Grace Harvey swished a 3 from the key with 2:00 left before halftime. Nine more points by Sale Creek made it 40-4 at halftime.
The Lady Panthers extended that lead to 53-4 with eight minutes remaining and they didn’t score in the final period as Whitwell finished with two more free throws by Holder and a layup from Stephanie Miller for the final 45-point margin of victory.
Holland really didn’t know what to say after this one finally ended.
“I’m excited about how well we came back after losing a tough one to Copper Basin in the district final. I thought we were aggressive and defense was the biggest difference. It’s a struggle to play a game like this, but I felt like we had a lot of effort and really good intensity.
“Now we face a really big challenge at Van Buren on Monday night,” he concluded, knowing that two of his team’s six losses came against the Lady Eagles.
Trinity Smith scored 18 points to lead the winning Lady Panthers while Caroline Holland and Madi Ellis followed with nine and eight points, respectively.
Whitwell did have an unofficial 28-26 advantage in rebounds as Miller and Holder had eight and seven, respectively. Kenzie Escobar grabbed four off the bench to lead Sale Creek.
|
WHITWELL
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
4
|
-- 8
|
|
SALE CREEK
|
20
|
20
|
13
|
0
|
--53
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WHITWELL (8) – Casseday, Webster, Miller 2, L. Holder 3, Caldwell, Tate, A. Holder, Winegar, Harvey 3.
SALE CREEK (53) – Williams 2, Ellis 8, Holland 9, Garner 2, Arnold 4, McCuiston, Trinity Smith 18, Levi 3, Escobar, E. Gammon 4, L.B. Gammon 3, McKee.
3-Point Goals: Whitwell 1 (Harvey); Sale Creek 1 (L.B. Gammon).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)