Lady Warriors win tourney title
The Gordon Central Lady Warriors took advantage of timely shooting and swarming defense during crunch time to notch a 35-31 victory over the Christian Heritage Lions and claim the first-ever Lady Warrior Invitational Thanksgiving Tournament championship.
Senior point guard Cailey Martin did most of the damage for the Lady Warriors (3-0) on the scoreboard, racking up 12 points by constantly slashing to the rim and hitting jumpers. Junior guard Olivia Fleming was a steady threat from behind the arc, chipping in seven points and hitting a pair of crucial late three-pointers.
Bailey Ferguson, Leila Culberson and Cheyenne Temple all contributed four points and valuable minutes for Gordon Central.
“I think we became clutch when we needed to down the stretch, and Olivia hit some big 3’s for us,” Gordon Central head coach Erick Hopper said. “Cailey showed some senior leadership, and even though it got a little ugly there in the end, we took care of business, and we were able to grow a lot.”
In what proved to be a back-and-forth battle, the Lady Warriors jumped out to an early advantage by closing out the first quarter with a 7-0 run. Gordon Central’s defensive pressure held the Lions to just three points at the conclusion of the initial quarter, pushing the score to 11-3.
Christian Heritage (2-1) displayed resiliency in the second quarter, rattling off a 7-0 run of their own as the quarter dwindled down. Sophomore guard Meghan Schneller added five of those points. However, the Lady Warriors were able to add a couple more buckets before halftime and entered the locker room with a 17-14 edge.
The two squads mostly traded baskets the entire second half, with Martin netting a long 3-pointer to open the third quarter and Fleming ending the quarter with a huge triple to maintain a 25-22 lead.
Christian Heritage wasn’t going away quietly. The Lady Lions utilized quick scores from Meghan Schneller, Kelsey Schneller and junior forward Sydney Stafford to keep the Lady Warriors from pulling away in the early fourth quarter. However, the blue and white defense managed to stiffen up when it counted and never gave away the lead.
“I just keep telling them that defense can keep you in ball games,” Hopper said. “When you can hold teams to 31 points, that’s big. Our defense has been much improved, and we’ve been active and frustrated teams a bit. I think that can keep us in games early until the offense can come around.”
As the clock ticked down, it was another clutch three-pointer from Fleming with a couple minutes remaining that opened the lead up for Gordon Central.
Martin was then able to appropriately ice the holiday game away on the free throw line in the final seconds, giving the Lady Warriors the 35-31 championship win and the opportunity to hoist up the first place trophy at home.
Gordon Central plays next on Tuesday at Morris Innovative at 5:30 p.m.