Heritage earns home sweep against LFO

Both the Heritage Generals and Lady Generals picked up home victories over Catoosa County rival LFO last Monday. The Lady Generals used a fourth-quarter run to pull away for a 64-50 victory, while the Generals took advantage of a third-quarter spurt to claim a 62-47 win in the nightcap.

In the opener, Heritage built a 30-20 lead at intermission, but would see the Lady Warriors hang tough in the second half.

Back-to-back buckets by Ateana Copeland, the last one coming with 1:15 left in the third quarter, cut the Heritage lead down to five points, although two Emily Wiley free throws with nine seconds left would bump the Heritage advantage back to seven at the end of the period.

Then in the fourth quarter, Macey Gregg drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 7:12 remaining to make it a two-possession game at 44-40. However, that would be as close as LFO would get for the remainder of the night.

Ansley Bice would hit a 3-pointer of her own with 5:06 remaining and she would add an offensive putback some 30 seconds later to cap the decisive 11-4 run. Heritage would also enjoy a big night at the free throw line as they salted away the victory. The Lady Generals went 27-of-33 from the charity stripe in the game, 17-of-18 in the second half and 11-of-12 in the fourth quarter.

Bice was a perfect 7-of-7 from the line as she finished with a game-high 21 points. Wiley had 18 points after going 12-of-14 from the stripe. Reagan Armour added 11 points and Haley Phillips finished with five.

Milijah Williams connected on three 3-pointers for the Lady Warriors as she ended the game with a team-high 18 points. Gregg scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half, while Copeland and Gabby Ware finished with six points each.

In the nightcap, the Warriors would enjoy an early lead, but the Generals would keep plugging away. Cade Collins drained a shot from just inside half-court to beat the first quarter buzzer that pulled the home team to within a point at 17-16.

Heritage would take its first lead early in the second quarter as Caden Snyder opened the period with a 3-pointer. It would turn out to be the final lead change of the night as LFO would endure a cold-shooting second quarter. A 3-pointer by Will Allen with 26 seconds left would cap a 10-2 Generals’ run over the final four minutes of the half to give the Navy-and-red a 35-24 lead at intermission.

LFO would make a final push early in the third quarter. Riley Mosier would cut into the Heritage lead with a three, followed by a steal and an acrobatic layup by Ruddy Ware to pull the Warriors to within four at 40-36 with 3:49 left in the quarter.

However, Collins, Clint Petteys and Brady Hawkins would all score at the rim following two nice assists from Allen and one by Nolan Letzgus. Then in the final 10 seconds of the quarter, Heritage came up with a steal and Snyder would take it in for a driving lay-up to up the Heritage lead to 50-37 and the Generals would maintain the double-digit advantage throughout the rest of the game.

Kobe Mcallister had a big night in the paint as Heritage’s big man led the way with 18 points. Collins would score 12 points in a balanced scoring attack. Allen and Cooper Terry finished the game with nine points each.

Ware finished with 15 for LFO. Jacob King had 11 points and Mosier finished with 10.