Feb. 6—The Pisgah girls' basketball team pulled away early in Wednesday night's County Clash contest, earning a 62-29 win over its cross-county rivals.
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"With the layoff of the snow, I was curious as to how the girls were going to respond," Pisgah Coach Brandon Holloway said. "The little break kind of gave them a little breath of fresh air, and I thought they came out tonight with a lot of energy and a lot of focus, and really stayed with the game plan. It was probably one of the better nights that they've had in the last couple of weeks."
The Pisgah defense was stifling all night, holding the Mountaineers to a sub-25% shooting percentage and grabbing nearly 20 steals.
"This team continues to build their identity on that defensive side of things, creating tough, contested shots, and trying to force teams into bad positions and forcing some turnovers here and there. That kind of ignited our offense tonight," Holloway said. "Consistently, we were much better defensively throughout the course of the game."
A crucial part of the defense was the trio of seniors Kylee Leonard and Lauren Belue and junior Jade Cody.
"Kylee and Jade and Lauren did a great job of putting body on body and getting us in positions where we could get more rebounds tonight, and then being able to get it out to our outlet so we could run our transition," Holloway said. "They're a big reason why we're able to get that ball to the other end so fast."
And the Bears flipped that defense into offense rapidly.
"As soon as we gain possession, there's a switch that goes on with them that ignites that offense, and it's baseline to baseline," Holloway said. "We don't look at it as a half-court offense. We start our offense as soon as we gain possession, and our girls continue to push the tempo."
On the flip side, Tuscola's defense and rebounding were good, but the Mountaineers struggled to score; that's just the way the ball bounces some nights.
"We've had four games out of our 18 where we just could not make shots," Tuscola Coach Heath Sutton said. "We had plenty of shots on goal in the first quarter. First quarter set the tone. We had multiple opportunities in that first quarter to make make-able shots, and we didn't make them. We just couldn't throw it in an ocean."
Pisgah senior Chandler Lowery led the way for the Bears, racking up 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Her seventh point was particularly special, getting her to 1,000 career points.
Holloway pointed out that the guard is also closing in on 500 rebounds.
"We've only had a few point guards to do that," Holloway said. "It just shows her attitude. She gets in there and has continuously been top three in rebounding the last three years. And she's as good as they come, as far as attacking the rim and being able to finish around the rim."
Despite the Bears' big scoring performance, only two players hit double-digit scoring.
"This team is so unselfish and so balanced. They want to win, and we're starting to figure that part out with getting the best shot," Holloway said.
The other double-digit scorer was senior Bailey Conner, who is most known for her defensive prowess.
Coming into the game, Conner had been sick for a few days and had even taken it light at practice the day before.
"Tonight, she goes out and just gives everything she's got, like she always does. Being able to see her get into it on both sides of the court tonight was a lot of fun to watch," Holloway said.
Tuscola had plenty of its own struggles, but a major bright spot came on the boards. Senior Kendall Williamson leads the conference in rebounding, while sophomore Vesper Forbes sits second and senior Avery Roten sits in the top 10, according to Sutton.
"I'm asking them to just lead us into rebounding and keep us in games. And they've just been huge," Sutton said.
The trio all hit double-digit rebounding on Wednesday night. Williamson led the way with 13, followed by Roten with 12 and Forbes with 10.
Junior Julia Wells had a solid night on both ends, leading the team in scoring with 10 points while consistently playing tight defense.
"I'm asking Julia to guard the best player, and I'm asking her to carry the load offensively. She plays 32 minutes a night, and she gets physically beaten to death on the other end of the floor. I can't say enough good stuff about her. She's really stepped up, and she's an incredible kid to coach. I'm lucky to get to coach her," Sutton said.
The biggest struggle the Mountaineers faced was fatigue. With Tuscola only having seven varsity players, three girls are playing the full 32 minutes almost every night.
"I'm asking these girls to play a lot of minutes. They're physically tired, and the fatigue is a factor. Going on two years of low numbers is hard on the girls," Sutton said.
He said he hopes the continued improvement the team has shown will encourage more players to come out next year.
"We've got 950 kids in the school, and we've only got 12 total girls in our basketball program. They're either not playing, or they're specializing in other sports, or they're going to other schools. That's where we're at, and it's really difficult, and it wears the kids out," Sutton said.