Lady Volunteers survive test with the Lady Eagles
PHEBA – It was only four days ago when the Starkville Academy Lady Volunteers handed the Hebron Christian Lady Eagles a 27-point defeat.
On Monday night, the Lady Eagles were able to get the Lady Vols on their home court and put forth a much better effort.
Hebron Christian held a lead well into the fourth quarter, but Starkville Academy outscored its host 7-3 in the final 3 minutes and escaped with a 44-41 victory.
A successful basket by Milla Davis with 2:17 remaining in the game gave the Lady Vols the advantage for good at 42-20.
“The last game we played on our court, it was really easy because we all played together and it was flowing, but now we are on their court so it was different,” Davis said. “We knew we had to bring it (Monday), but we just didn’t bring it hard enough. We were lucky to be able to finish the game, but we learn from this game and we’ve just got to know to bring it every time.”
It was a back-and-forth outing throughout as the Lady Eagles surged out to an early lead of 7-3 in the first quarter on a free throw by Rachael McGrew. They led 7-5 after the first quarter.
Starkville Academy came back to gain a 20-18 advantage on a basket by Davis and clung to a 29-28 edge after three quarters.
McKinsey Wedel kept Hebron close with a basket to give her team a 30-29 lead early in the fourth quarter and she hit again with the 5:30 left in the game to tie the game at 32-32.
McGrew put the Lady Eagles up 38-37, then a 3-point field goal by Lillee Alpe gave the Lady Vols a 40-38 lead.
Shortly after McGrew hit a pair of free throws to tie the game, she committed her fifth foul and had to leave the game, which took away a major scoring option for Hebron.
The basket by Davis and successful free throws down the stretch allowed Starkville Academy enough separation to get the win.
Lady Vols head coach Bruce Allsup knew the Lady Eagles had potential to play well and that’s the message he delivered to his team before the game.
“I told the girls before the game that this was going to be a different game,” Allsup said. “I watched those girls warm up the other night against us and we played extremely well the previous night, but they are every bit as good as we are. I’ve been here many times and I knew coming to this court that it was going to be a battle. They are two-time defending state champions, they know how to win and they were going to come in here
mean business.”
“We were fortunate to win. We made some big shots down the stretch to win and I was pleased with that. We didn’t play our best, but they had a lot to do with it. The big thing is when you don’t play your best, you find a way to win. That’s always a bonus.”
Mary Peyton Passons had 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Alpe added 11 points as Starkville Academy improved its record to 1210.
McGrew was the leading scorer for Hebron with 11 points, while Wedel and Caralee Smith added 10 points each.
The Vols improved their record to 11-4 with the easy victory.
Starkville Academy raced out to a 26-9 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
“We just had them out-gunned a little bit,” Allsup said. “I thought their team played better (Monday night) than they did at our place. I was proud of the way those kids kept battling.”
The Vols increased their advantage to 50-22 at halftime and 63-32 after three quarters.
Brady Richardson had 19 points to pace Starkville Academy’s scoring attack. Trey Tyler and Raegan Richardson added 15 points each.
The Eagles got 12 points from Thomas Gable and 10 points from Dash Turman.