Lady Warriors drop heartbreaker as HV drops two to Chuckey-Doak

Published 10:23 am Thursday, January 26, 2023

Girls Chuckey-Doak 46 Happy Valley 45

The Lady Warriors came us short when a game-winning basket rattled halfway down only to pop out as the buzzer sounded, sending the Lady Warriors to a one-point loss in a game to grab second place in their conference. The game was a back-and-forth contest that would see the Lady Warriors grab substantial leads only to watch the Lady Black Knights whittle away their lead time after time. Happy Valley would go up by as many as eight points in the first half as Josie Zeoli would toss up a running bank shot as the Warriors led 28-20 with 1:31 left in the half. Hayleigh Hensley would hit a desperation long jumper for the Black Knights with .7 seconds left to cut the Warrior lead to five going into the locker room.

Mailey Guy would hit a layup off an offensive rebound to allow the Warriors to keep their five-point lead at 29-24 at the 6:43 mark of the third period. As would be the case all night, both teams would struggle finishing near the rim, at the 1:31 mark of the third period. Chuckey-Doak would hit back-to-back three-pointers to take a one-point advantage for the first time since the first period. Mailey Guy, who was a force inside all night long, would hit a short back-door jumper to grab the lead back, only to see Chuckey-Doak grab the lead back with at 34-33 going into the final period.

The back-and-forth action would continue until the three-minute mark when the Lady Knights would go on a 5-0 run to go up 43-38 with just 1:43 left in the game Chuckey-Doak would try to go to the stall game but would struggle hitting their free-throws leaving the door cracked for the Lady Warriors. Mailey Guy would cut the lead to three off a putback and Cayden Anderson would hit back-back free-throws to give the Lady Warriors a one-point lead with just 28.8 seconds. The Lady Knights would be bailed out with nine seconds left when a foul would be called on the Warriors under the rim on a loose ball; setting up the frantic finish; Cayden Anderson would quickly dribble down court finding Kadie Bailey, who dribbled to her left and found an open Guy under the rim. Mailey Guy would put up an eight-foot jumper with two seconds left that went down the cylinder as far as a ball could go down and still pop out; leaving the Lady Warriors on the short end of a one-point game. Kadie Bailey would finish the night with 17 points and Mailey Guy would finish with 12; the Lady Black Knights would be led by Savanah Atchinson with 15.

Post-game, coach Thomas Gouge would talk about his girls’ efforts and heart in the loss, “they gave tremendous effort tonight; you can’t fault them for that; we will definitely see them again; the point in all of this is for us to get better for the tournament.” Senior Kadie Bailey was sure her team could grow from this game “it’s a learning experience; we are young, this can make us stronger if we let it, we have to keep our heads up and keep fighting.”

The Warriors hung tough for a quarter but were overpowered and out-sized by the number three ranked in the State Chuckey-Doak Black Knights. Highly touted Black Knight Christian Derry lived up to the billing as he made the inside rough going for Happy Valley. A 19-9 first-period lead grew to 48-12 at the half. TJ Good led the Warriors with six points, while Dakota Grindstaff and Cole Deakins had five points each on the night. Happy Valley will next play South Greene on the road Friday night at 6 pm.