Lady Hatchets rebound with win
Nov. 9—Sometimes after a team gets knocked down, the most important thing is the way they get back up.
On Tuesday, WHS shook off a 40-point loss to North Knox with a dominant 61-34 win over South Knox in the Hatchet House. WHS moved to 1-1 on the young season and showed exactly how they would respond to adversity.
Senior Chloe Browning led the way with four treys and 18 points for WHS, while freshmen Shay Hawk and Ella Williams combined for 20 to lead Washington.
"Chloe has been a tremendous leader all year for us and she really showed it on the floor tonight. She came ready to prove a point. I thought Olivia Gilley did a great job rebounding and setting screens. Ella and Shay played really well, but what impressed me most was the cohesiveness on this team and its defense," said head coach Gretchen Miles.
Hawk opened the game with a trey and Browning added a basket, but a pair of South Knox treys put the Lady Spartans up 6-5. Madi Dalton added a bucket on the inside, but SK responded with its third trey and a 9-7 lead. SK added a bucket and went into the second quarter up 11-7.
Aubrey Frank cut the lead to 13-9 with a mid-range jumper. Hawk went to the free throw line after a steal but missed the front end but WHS began to turn up the heat on defense in spite of WHS missing five straight shots. However, a put back from Williams cut it to 11-15 followed by a basket from Hawk that made it a two-point game. Hawk then added a basket in the final :02 to tie it 15-15 at the half.
Frank opened the second with a trey, but the lead was short-lived SK connected from downtown as well. Frank kept the hot hand and added her second trey of the quarter. Olivia Gilley got in the scorebook with a basket that made it 24-18 with 4:45 left in the third. Browning added the next seven points and WHS pushed the lead to 31-22, the largest of the night to that point.
Howell and Hawk added baskets, while Gilley had an old fashioned 3-point play sending WHS in to the final stanza up 38-28, out scoring SK 23-11 during the quarter.
In the fourth, Dalton posted a free thrown and Browning had her third 3-ball to open the quarter on a 4-0 run. Browning added another trey and WHS was up by 21 with 6:00 to play. Browning connected with her fourth 3-pointer as the run continued to 50-26. Hawk added a basket and freshman Katie Reed posted a pair of free throws and a trey to make it 57-28. Maddy Johnson picked up the final basket and Williams hit free throws for WHS's 61-34 win.
Also scoring for WHS was Gilley with six, Reed and Frank with five each, three from Dalton, two from Howell and Johnson. Ella Bobe lead South Knox with 20.
WHS is off for 10 days when they then travel to Sullivan.
In the JV contest, WHS (2-0) won 31-4, led by Aubrey Frank with 10, 4 each from Lexi Nalin and Kyra Schuckman. Overall eight Hatchets scored in the two-quarter game.
