The early season varsity girls matchup between Blackville-Hilda High and Denmark-Olar High lived up to its billing Thursday night in the Hawks Nest.
The contest had the high energy of a stock car race as the teams motored up and down the court at a tremendous pace. After 14 lead changes, the Lady Vikings emerged down the stretch run to take the tape for a 50-49 thriller overtime victory.
The game went into overtime tied at 48 apiece. However, in the extra session, BHHS was its worst enemy as the team missed seven shots in the paint, including a free throw which would have tied the score with 16 seconds to play.
The loss was the first for BHHS which falls to 2-1 in the season.
“I was very pleased with the way we battled back in the fourth quarter. However, we missed several shots in the paint in overtime. If we had scored those baskets the outcome might have been different,” BHHS coach William Hammond said.
In the opening quarter, the Lady Hawks grabbed the momentum behind the plays of Shaquanda Ferguson and Herquanda Williams who scored five points each for an early 13-11 lead.
Midway in the second quarter the Lady Hawks added to their advantage. In transition, Ferguson scored on a layup. Two possessions later Tyeshia Clark drove the paint and scored on a lay-in for a 22-16 lead.
Trailing for most of the first half, the Lady Vikings stormed back with 2:18 left in the first half. First, Christina Freeman drained a three-pointer, then Janaya Moore and Jasmine Daniels scored buckets to tie the score at 24-24 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Lady Vikings continued to heat up. Fueled by three-pointers by Kaneisha Dickerson and Tashia Wright, Denmark-Olar went on a 16-4 run for a 40-28 lead with 1:27 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the ball continued to bounce in favor of the Lady Vikings as they built their lead to 46-32 with 7:03 left to play.
Down by double digits with 4:31 left to play, the Lady Hawks clawed back. Ferguson got busy in the paint, scoring six points on putbacks. A basket by Latoya Roundtree with 1:38 left to play narrowed the lead to 48-42.
Moments later, trailing 48-45 with 15 seconds left, the Hawks defense made a huge stop.
On the play Clark scooped up a loose ball. Clark then lateraled the ball to Taylor Brown, who took the ball on the deep wing and drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime, however, the Lady Hawks ran out of steam as the team missed all 11 of their shots from the field.
The Lady Vikings also missed all nine of their field goals, but two free throws by Jasmine Daniels provided the team with the margin of victory.
“We didn’t do a good job of rebounding nor stopping their dribble penetrations. We gave up too many uncontested shots in the paint,” Hammonds said.