Trailing by 15 points going into the final period, the Happy Valley Lady Warriors staged a furious comeback that fell just short on Friday evening in the Happy Valley girls basketball Thanksgiving Classic at Bayless gym.

HV stormed back behind Kaitlyn Roberts and Tianna Long who combined for 11 fourth-quarter points, but it was not enough as Seymour held on for a 53-46 win.

“We dug ourselves a hole early,” Lady Warriors head coach Larry Abel said. “We got it cut in the third quarter and (Seymour) finished on a flurry and they extended it back out and we kind of ran out of gas.”

The Lady Eagles took an early 13-10 lead after one period and extended to a 28-21 halftime lead behind 12 first-half points from guard Aebri Graham. The Eagles continued to soar in the third period outscoring HV 16-8 in the stanza to make it a 44-29 game going into the final period.

“I challenged Tiana at halftime to rebound more,” Abel said. “She did, and Haley Green made some big shots. We have a lot of work to do on our press defense. We are working some young kids into the rotation and I told the girls that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. If we continue to work hard we’ll get to where we want to be.”

Long finished with seven points and five boards with Green taking down six rebounds and dropping in a team-high 13 points. HV got rolling in the fourth quarter on a three-point play from Long, followed by a deuce from Roberts.

A deuce from Jolie Gentry made it a 48-37 game with 2:51 showing on the clock, but Roberts answered for the Warriors. A bucket in the paint from Emily Lunceford cut the deficit to 48-41 and a trey from Green cut the Eagles lead to 48-44 with 1:09 left.

Maci Pitner hit a pair of free throws for Seymour followed by Jaylee Giffin hitting one-of-two from the line and Pitner dropped in two more as the Eagles built the lead back to 53-44 before Roberts deuce ended the scoring for the game.

Happy Valley Thanksgiving Classic

Seymour 53-46

Seymour 13 15 16 9 – 53

Happy Valley 10 11 8 17 – 46

Game Two

Meigs Co. 70

EHS 59

The Lady Tigers led from the outset as EHS stumbled to find the right combination on the floor in the early going. Meigs led 23-9 after one quarter and raced to a 41-29 halftime lead as the Lady Cyclones had nine turnovers.

Destiny Little scored 10 of her 15 points in the first half with Kelsie Winters adding eight of her 10 point output coming in the first half. The Cyclones cut the Tigers lead to 10 going into the final stanza with Meigs leading 56-46.

Little and Morgan Headrick each hit one free throw but Cassidy Kenney dropped in a deuce as Meigs continued to lead by 10 at 58-48 with 6:52 remaining. A trey from Kenney – who had a game-high 25 points – gave Meigs a 63-50 lead at the 5:04 mark.

Kaylen Shell and Abbey Townsend each hit deuces for EHS before Jacelyn Stone hit a free throw for the Tigers. A trey from Torrie Roberts helped EHS cut the deficit to 64-57 but Kenney and Stone hit four free throws before a Headrick deuce.

Happy Valley Thanksgiving Classic

Meigs Co. 70-59

EHS 9 20 17 13 – 59

Meigs 23 18 15 14 – 70