Lady Warriors blitz UH behind second-quarter bonanza

Published 2:50 pm Tuesday, November 28, 2017

After one-quarter of play, it looked like the game between the Lady Warriors and the University High Lady Buccaneers was going to be a barn-burner Monday night on Warrior Hill.

The Lady Warriors, however, had other plans.

Coming out of the first, Happy Valley held a small 12-10 lead. Ignited by a 12-point second quarter by Happy Valley’s Adrienne Henegar, the Lady Warriors outpaced the Bucs 22-3 in the second frame before rolling on out to a 58-20 nonconference win.

“In the first quarter, we missed a lot of easy shots,” said Happy Valley head coach Larry Abel Jr. “We missed too many free throws in the first quarter. Things were not falling early. We tried to get after it a little bit but did not do a good job in our traps.

“In the second quarter, we did a good job of trapping the ball,” added Abel. “We got some steals.Our best offense was our defense. We got rolling and started making some shots. It all fell into place there.”

Happy Valley’s second-quarter run started with seven straight points from Henegar as she knocked down two buckets and a trifecta to push the Lady Warriors out to a 19-10 edge. Happy Valley’s Kate Roberts followed up with a pair of foul shots before Henegar and teammate Bailey Ball nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Lady Warriors a 27-10 gap. Down the first-half stretch, Happy Valley outscored U-H 7-3 as Lady Warrior Kalee Lane provided five points with a basket and a three. At the half, Happy Valley led 34-13.

Henegar finished the night with 15 points and three treys.

“Adrienne was on a hot streak,” said Abel. “We called a couple of plays to get her some looks right there. She is a great 3-point shooter who stays in the gym a lot.”

Along with Henegar’s offensive performance, the defensive pressure of the Lady Warriors played a crucial role in Happy Valley’s victory over U-H, said Abel.

“What got it going was that we had great output tonight defensively,” he said. “We had two girls with five steals, (Kate) Roberts and Tiana (Long). Bailey Ball finished with four steals. That is we what fed on and had a really good run in that second quarter.”

The Lady Warriors kept things moving in the third as they outscore U-H 18-3 with Roberts knocking down a couple 3-pointers to keep Happy Valley rolling. After three, the Lady Warriors led 52-16. In the fourth, Happy Valley posted six points to U-H’s four with Happy Valley’s Casey Campbell laying in a buzzer-beating shot to give the contest its final tally.

Wednesday night, the Lady Warrior took on Cloudland for the results of that game pick up Thursday’s Elizabethton Star. Friday evening, the Lady Warriors will open Three Rivers Conference play as they travel to Unicoi.

At this point in the season, the Lady Warriors are looking for their identity, said Abel.

“We are still searching a little bit,” he said. “We are still challenging them to compete. We have to be competitive. We have had a few things not go our way early in the season. I felt that the girls, after a not so good weekend, responded well tonight.”