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6B |
SportsEXTRA
FROM 5B
Second: O’Connor sparks 11-0 run in third quarter
Northview three days
later. They face the Lady
Titans on the road Friday.
In addition to connect¬
ing on 9 of 13 free throws
in the game, O'Connor
sparked an 11-0 West run
during the third quarter.
First, she jumped in
front of Roswell forward
Valerie Shields’ pass near
half court and was fouled
on the ensuing layup
attempt. She went 1-for-
2, as did Lydia Legault on
FROM 5B
Edge: Champion, Bush combine for 21 points
bit away from what we
were trying to do, and
credit to Johns Creek.
“I’m just proud that the
guys were able to pull it
together when it got real
close and create some big
baskets like we did."
Despite the span of 6
minutes, 46 seconds with¬
out a point, Melrns’ shot
increased Lambert’s lead to
25-19. Johns Creek (3-16,
1-9) could have drawn
closer or tied the game if
not for four consecutive
misses at the free-throw
line just prior to his basket.
The Longhorns remained
ahead by six points, 41-35,
midway through the fourth
quarter after Danny
Edgeworth assisted Logan
Bush •( 10 points) on a
3- pointer, but the
Gladiators didn’t go away
quietly.
Johns Creek answered
with a 6-2 run capped off
on a layup by Malik Avery
with 1:28 left on the clock,
cutting the lead to 43-41.
Melms drove into the
paint on the Longhorns’
next possession, and when
three defenders collapsed
on him, he leaped up and
passed the ball to
Edgeworth underneath the
basket for two points.
Edgeworth forced a steal
on the Gladiators' next trip
down the floor, which led
to a free throw by Brennan
Gagen that increased the
lead to 46-41.
The Gladiators were
unable to score in the final
minute, missing several
3-pointers and two free
throws. Bush put the final
touches on the win with a
pair of free throws with 2.4
seconds remaining.
Peyton Smith led Johns
Creek with 10 points.
“It’s better to have a late
run than an eaTly-season
run," DeWitt said of his
team's consecutive wins.
“Right now 1 think we’ve
FROM 5B
Lambert
period before stealing the
ball and converting a layup
for two more points.
She caught a pass under¬
neath the hoop with just
under four minutes remain¬
ing and dropped in another
basket that pushed the lead
to 59-39, and the team’s
reserve players did the
cleanup work during the
final three minutes.
“Second half, we came
back out. we got back into
what we wanted to do and
really pushed the tempo,"
Thompson said.
"We didn’t hit many 3s
tonight, but we were going
to drive and take some bet¬
ter, closer shots."
Lambert faces Creekview
tonight at home in a rare
Thursday game. Tip-off is
scheduled for 6 p.m.
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AMERICAN PROTEIlH
—
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
the Wolverines' next pos¬
session after another
O’Connor steal.
Thompson then took
advantage of the Hornets’
third straight turnover —
a travel — with a jumper
in the paint, tying the
game at 25.
On West’s next posses¬
sion, O’Connor found
Meredith Bresnahan with
a full-court pass, which
the sophomore forward
turned into an easy layup
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Jared Putnam Forsyth County News
Lambert forward Logan Bush puts up a shot between Johns Creek's Mitch
Coleman and Reed Ehrardt onTuesday at the Lambert gymnasium.
gotten our feet back under
us. We’re motivated, we’re
bonded, and we’re ready to
meet our season goals and
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Jared Putnam Forsyth County News
Lambert forward Peyton Card fights through defenders to put up a shot
against Johns Creek onTuesday at the Lambert gymnasium.
forsythnews.com
with 2:30 left in the third.
The Wolverines never
trailed again.
“We’d been so close to
putting together a com¬
plete game that puts us in
the w i n column,"
Chadwick said. “We just
had little things that we
weren’t doing, and Finally
tonight, they did it."
With Thompson denying
Keys and the rest of West’s
defense executing its
switches, Roswell missed
see how far we can go in
[the region tournament and
beyond].”
Lambert faces
14 of 15 field goal attempts
in the final period and
didn’t score until 1:44
remained in the contest.
The Hornets started
fouling not long after.
Two O’Connor free
throws gave the
Wolverines a 39-31 lead
with 1:07 left, and
Roswell missed two 3
attempts on its next pos¬
session.
Thompson’s ability to
stay between Keys and
C’reekview tonight at home
in a rare Thursday game.
Tip-off is scheduled for
7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26,2012
the basket played a big
part in Roswell’s offen¬
sive lull. Chadwick said
he* wasn't sure what was
wrong with his star play¬
er, but he was proud of
her ability to fight
through it.
“She wasn’t at practice
yesterday," the coach
said. “If she’s not at prac¬
tice, you know some¬
thing's going on.”
Keys had more of her
way in the initial two
FROM 5B
West
declined to comment on the Benedict situation
directly, but did express pride in the team’s
response to it.
"1 was extremely pleased, because 1 thought
the boys, despite all the adversity they’ve had,
they fought through it,” he said. “They just
kept playing and playing and playing, and we
didn’t focus too much on the scoreboard. We
just tried to play as hard as we could.”
Point guard Sean Brennan scored a game
high 20 points for Roswell (11-10, 4-4 Region
6-AAAAA), and guard Matt Beneduci added
11. Evans and center Daniel Yates tallied 12
and 10, respectively, for the Wolverines (1-17,
1-7), which hung with a team that handled
them 71-53 earlier in the season.
Waters' left-baseline layup knotted the
game 39-39 with 13 seconds left in regulation,
and guard Andrew Hickman stole the ball
away from Brennan w ith five seconds left and
sprinted towards the basket with no defenders
in his path.
But his right-handed layup w'as much too
strong, bouncing hard off the backboard
towards West's bench.
“You can always go back and critique a lot
of things, so 1 don’t want to put it one particu¬
lar shot,” said Flemmer, who moved from
Texas two years ago and joined the West
coaching staff this season. “You look back at
those things and you kind of scratch your
head.”
Roswell led 8-2 midway through the first
quarter and 22-16 at halftime. Chris Parisi’s
trey from the left corner trimmed the lead to a
point, and Yates’ shot from the right block
gave West its first lead on the Wolverines’
next trip up the court two minutes into the
third quarter.
Neither team led by more than four from
that point on.
Evans opened the fourth with a three-point
play on his falling, one-handed scoop from
the right side of the basket and scored six
points in the quarter. Beneduci nailed a 3 from
the left corner with 3:08 left, but that was the
Hornets’ last field goal in regulation.
Neither team scored in overtime until
Roswell forward Zac Callen converted a sec¬
ond-chance layup with 1:50 left. Waters
answered with a wide-open trey from the right
wing, but Britchett knocked one down from
the same spot on the other end.
Evans and Yates each stepped to the foul
stripe with a chance to tie during the final 20
seconds, but Evans missed the front end of a
one-and-one, and Yates’ second attempt
rimmed out. Shawn O'Connell then made one
of two free throws to give Roswell a 47-45
i lead,
With Yates setting a pick at the top of the
key, Evans drove left and flicked the ball off .
the backboard with his right hand, but it rolled
off the rim.
"[A Roswell defender] affected my shot,”
Evans said. “I just couldn’t get it in.”
West went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc (17
percent) and turned the ball over 19 times, but
their aggressive matchup defense kept
Roswell in check.
“We were pleased with our effort,” said
Waters, who scored nine points. “Obviously,
we’re still upset that we lost, but before Coach
Benedict left, he was just talking about getting
better, getting better. He wasn’t worried about
winning at that point, but now it’s good
because we’re actually getting better and now
we can start worrying about winning.”
Hours after learning of the allegations
against their coach Friday afternoon, the
Wolverines took the eourt against nationally
ranked Milton and suffered a 60-32 loss.
Tuesday’s go-round was much closer, but the
situation’s sting remained.
“We never expected anything like this,”
Waters said.
Benedict never was violent during practice,
according to both Waters and Evans.
"He would never intend to hurt someone,”
Evans said.
Said Waters: “He’ll raise his voice but never
ball up a fist or nothing like that.”
West’s next game is Friday at Northview.
quarters, scoring all hut
four of her team’s first
half points. O’Connor’s 3
from the left extended
elbow with 40 seconds
left in the second preced¬
ed a Keys free throw that
made it 19-15 at the
break.
West travels to
Northview Friday for a 6
p.m. tipoff.
Follow Phil Ervin on Twitter
@PhilErvin_FCN