Volunteer’s Lady Falcons used a relentless pressing defense to hold Tennessee High to 13 first-half points on the way to a 60-38 Upper Lakes Conference win Friday night.
“We’ve really been working on making the press effective and not just being in it for no reason,” said Volunteer girls’ basketball coach Caroline Laek. “It’s really created that momentum that I think we were missing early on.”
Offensively, the Lady Falcons unleashed an uncharacteristic nine 3-pointers in the game, including four by leading scorer Kendra Huff and one apiece from Courtney Bellamy, Emmerson Head, Jacie Begley, Emily McPherson and Ava Jackson.
Huff, Jackson and Head got things started with threes on back-to-back-to-back possessions in the final minute and a half of the first quarter to give the Lady Falcons a 13-7 lead.
The Lady Falcons, as they have in recent outings, turned up the defensive pressure to force multiple turnovers and bad shots by the Lady Vikings who managed just 6 points in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Jackson scored 6 of her 12 points during that stretch to help the Lady Falcons build a 29-13 lead at halftime.
Tennessee High made some halftime adjustments and came out firing in the third. A Lady Falcons’ timeout at the 5:16 mark quelled a short Lady Vikings’ run. Jackson blocked a shot and Huff took control, handling the Lady Vikings’ pressure and pushing the ball up the floor.
“She’s done a really great job of settling herself this year,” Laek said of Huff. “I think tonight she was just kind of feeling it, and when you’re feeling it like that, you just have to keep shooting it.”
Begley and Huff each hit a 3-pointer and suddenly the Lady Falcons were up 41-21. The Lady Vikings got a Kendall Cross free throw, Keeley Carter bucket and Anna Kate Kinch trey from the top of the key to close the gap to 46-27 at the end of the third.
The Lady Falcons (8-12, 2-2) kept the pressure on and used a balanced scoring attack to race to the Upper Lakes Conference win, their second straight following a win on Tuesday at Sullivan East. After an 0-7 start to the season, Volunteer has now won three of its last four games. It dropped a 49-33 nonconference decision to Jefferson County on Saturday.
“If we can continue with this momentum, hopefully we’re springing into action at just the right time,” Laek said.
Huff led all scorers with 19 points in the game. Jackson added 12, and Begley and Veda Barton tossed in eight each. Cross led Tennessee High (10-12, 2-2) with 13 points. Kinch added 12.
Now tied for second in the Upper Lakes Conference, the Lady Falcons have road games this week at Unicoi County and Elizabethton.
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