Lady Phoenix come up short in non-region test
Sonoraville battles Lady Canes but late free throws decide game
The Sonoraville Lady Phoenix had a game come down to the final few minutes once again early in the season on Tuesday, and despite coming up just short, they will continue to use those situations to learn and grow from.
The Lady Phoenix battled Cartersville on Tuesday night at home and the game was tight throughout. Sonoraville got a bucket from Harleigh Chastain with 35.6 seconds left to go up one, but Cartersville’s Kimora McClinic made four free throws in the final 12 seconds to give the Lady Hurricanes a 44-41 non-re- gion victory.
For Sonoraville ( 0- 2), it was the second straight loss which was decided late in the fourth quarter after falling 38- 34 to Cedartown last Tuesday. Sonoraville coach Stephanie Caudell said it was just a matter of Cartersville making the plays at the end, but her team is still benefitting from being in situations like that with such a young team.
“It would help for us to make a few more free throws, but (Cartersville) made the two they needed at the end,” said Caudell. “It was one of those back-and-forth, frantic kind of endings, and they happened to be the one that made the plays at the end. I think we made a couple bad decisions vs. their press, and we’ve got to clean that up. We had a couple turnovers that we can’t afford.
“It’s good to be in those close games. It does present some learning, teachable moments at practice. We need to work on that more and more and learn how to handle close games. Right now, we have to fight, scratch and claw to be in games late, but we’ve got to learn how to handle things at the end of games.”
Sonoraville led 9-6 after one quarter and then 17-16 at the half as the teams battled the first two quarters with neither leading by more than five points. The third quarter was much of the same as the largest lead was 31-25 by the Lady Phoenix, but McClinic hit a half-court heave to pull her team within three at 31-28 as the buzzer sounded at the end of the period.
Chastain stepped up with two big transition lay- ups to start the fourth and give Sonoraville their largest lead at 35-28, but Cartersville quickly responded with an 8-0 run to take the lead. The two teams swapped leads four times over the final few minutes before McClinic’s four clinching free throws at the end.
Grace Darnell led the Lady Phoenix with 10 points, and Chastain and Cortney Williams both added nine. Kolbey Smith contributed seven points as well. Caudell said Chastain’s energy in the second half helped her team build the lead.
“Those buckets she had to start the fourth were huge, and her energy is what goy us the lead there,” said Caudell.
“She never seems to get tired and goes wide open all the time. I think she is one of those players that have been in pressure situations before and can mentally finish those shots. I’ve been really pleased with her play so far.”
McClinic was the leading scorer in the game with 18 for Cartersville, including eight in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Phoenix were back at home on Friday to host North Murray in a Region 6- AAA crossover game. (For details on that game, see Wednesday’s Calhoun Times.) The host Murray County on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Caudell said she continues to tell her team to keep working and improving and good things will start to happen for them.
“I told the girls that we’ve been in both of those games with an opportunity to win, and we’ve got to keep our head up and keep working and we’ll win the next one in that situation,” said Caudell.
“We just need to gain some confidence and remember that it’s still early in the season before region when they really start to count.”