Celebrating "Senior Night," the Walker Valley basketball teams stepped out of district play Monday inside “The Stable,” hosting Hamilton Heights as the District 5-4A tournament looms just over the horizon.
The Lady Mustangs (11-11) opened the night overcoming a sluggish first half to pull off a 52-44 win over the Lady Hawks (9-12).
Meanwhile, the Mustangs (15-8), punched and counter-punched the Hawks in the closer, but could not fend off a late run by Hamilton Heights (20-3) falling 73-70.
The Herds will be back in action with back-to-back district road matchups, traveling to Athens Thursday for makeup battles with McMinn County before heading across the rover Friday to Evensville to face Rhea County.
LADY MUSTANGS 52
LADY HAWKS 44
Seniors Chloe Poe, Jalaya Lindsey and Madison Bischof had a huge nights to lead the victory, pouring in 18, 14 and 12 points resepctively.
The final score didn't tell the whole story of the battle, particularly early, as the Lady Hawks shoved their way to 15-7 first-quarter lead.
A low scoring second quarter saw the international-roster from Chattanooga take a 22-13 advantage into the half.
“We had 13 points in the first half. That was not fun. Halftime was not fun,” said first-year Lady Mustang head coach Paul Sausville. “But, we figures some stuff out. Coach “P” (Matt Parris) and Coach Sarah (Sausville) figured some stuff out. They inverted our motion offense and we ran a different triangle, it was a great adjustment for us.”
The changes worked in the third period as Walker Valley went to town, outscoring the Lady Hawks 16-8 with Poe stripping the nylons from NBA-distance at the buzzer to put the hosts out front for the first time at 31-30.
Junior Maliyah Woods added a 3-ball to open the fourth quarter before Bischof followed with a two-pointer and Poe finished the 11-0 run with another trey.
The Lady Hawks cut the lead to 45-40 with 1:15 left on the clock, but with a limited bench, Hamilton Heights was forced to play with four players and then just three as fouls took its toll down the stretch.
“Our girls, we just 'D-ed' up in the second half. That was a lot of fun,” said Coach Sausville. “We just got after them in the full court. We got them to turn the ball over and we just started making buckets.”
Walker Valley pushed in 6-of-6 free throws with less than 30 seconds left on the clock to seal the win.
“Four yes, but not three,” Sausville said of the limited numbers for Hamilton Heights. “He (HH head coach Melvin Williams) told me before the game he only had six (players) because one was sick. I feel for him, but we'll take it.
"It's 'Senior Night' so we're celebrating our seniors tonight. You saw the seniors start the game and you saw them end the game and that's kind of special for them to contribute that much and play that well together.”
HAWKS 73,
MUSTANGS 70
Trailing 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, Walker Valley dialed in from 3-point range in the second to scorch the nets for 34 points, with 30 coming from long distance.
Sophomore Turner Clayton's opening 3 sparked a 34-17 run that put Walker Valley out front 44-32 at halftime.
Clayton, junior Landon Shirk and senior Graham Campbell showed out in the second eight minutes with Shirk pouring in 15 points from long distance, while adding a duece from conventional range. Clayton added nine points in the run while Campbell netted six points to the outburst.
Shirk, a transfer from McMinn County who became eligible at WV just before Christmas, finished his night with a Mustang career-high 22-point performance, including an impressive six 3-point performance, while Clayton ended with 15, including four 3s. Campbell helped out with 13, with a trio of treys.
“We shot it unbelievably in the first half,” said Mustang skipper Will Campbell. “I knew we probably wouldn't shoot it quite that good in the second half, but we battled. I thought our guys competed. That's a tough team.”
The Hawks showed their toughness in the second half cutting a 44-32 Walker Valley lead to 55-48 as the 3s disappeared from the Mustangs' repertoire.
The battle raged on in the final eight minutes as the Hawks caught and passed the Mustangs with just over four minutes left to play.
A pair of free throws by senior Cash Coates cut the HH lead to 69-68 with 1:55 left to play, but the Mustangs were unable to turn the tide in the closing seconds, missing on a last second 3-point shot as time ran out.
“Our guys battled and that's all you want, to come out and fight and compete. Obviously, we would have like to have held on for the win,” said Coach Campbell.
“I'm not disappointed with our effort and how we competed. Moving forward into the tournament I think that's a good one as a little bit of a measuring stick. They are the fourth ranked team in the state across all classifications and we took them to the wire.”
