Missed free throws costly for Lady Cobras
MALVERN — A sizzling second quarter by the Malvern Lady Leopards carried more weight than Fountain Lake’s fast start Thursday night.
Trailing 12-4 at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Leopards buried four 3-pointers in the second period, later pulling away for a 43-40 win at the Leopard Center.
“We quit turning it over, so we obviously got more opportunities to score, but the main thing was we started passing the ball quicker instead of waiting on the double team to get to us,” Malvern coach Jess Martin said. “We tried to put an emphasis on making short passes and not panicking, so to speak. We got out of those double teams in the second quarter, and we started knocking down some shots.”
Holding a a slim 20-19 advantage at the half, Malvern gave itself some breathing room with a 7-1 run behind three points from Kym Summerville and two each from Alayna Fields and Diamond Ollison.
Fountain Lake’s Lyndsey Blees pulled the Lady Cobras within 27-24 with a shot from behind the arc before the Lady Leopards settled with a 29-24 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“Our defense let down a little bit in the second half,” Fountain Lake coach Chris Mungle said. “We lost a couple of their shooters, but give them credit; they stepped up and knocked down a couple of big shots. We kept getting the ball in the post and we had a lot of good shot opportunities, but we just couldn’t finish around the rim.”
Malvern opened the fourth quarter with five quick points, including a 3- pointer from Summerville, giving the Lady Leopards a lead they wouldn’t surrender. Fountain Lake made things interesting with a late rally in the final minute, but the Lady Cobras were unable to close the gap.
Fountain Lake’s Isabelle Baker converted on two shots from the line with two seconds remaining before Malvern successfully completed the ensuing inbound pass, running out the clock to preserve the win.
“They came out and hit a couple buckets, and we’re not a team that scores a bunch of points in a hurry,” said Mungle. “The kids played hard and kept fighting to cut it to three at the end, but we just ran out of time.”
In what proved to be a one-possession game, the Lady Cobras were left wondering what might have been if not for 14 missed free throws, including six in the fourth quarter.
“The free throw line is going to be big for us every night,” Mungle said. “We usually do a pretty good job of getting the ball inside. Trying to get to the free throw line is an emphasis of ours, but when you get there, you’ve got to step up and make them.”
Fountain Lake’s Hannah Ross led all scorers with seven points in the first quarter as the Lady Cobras opened the game on a 10-2 run and held a comfortable 12-4 lead at the end of the frame.
The Lady Leopards regained momentum in the second quarter on the strength of its outside shooting. Tiaunica Henderson buried two shots from behind the arc, while Tiffany Monk and Summerville each hit one to give Malvern a 20-19 halftime lead.
“Knocking down some shots was a big lift for us,” said Martin. “It changed the complexion of the game and gave us some momentum going into halftime.”
Fountain Lake tied the score with a foul shot from Jill Norman to open the third quarter, but the Lady Cobras never regained the lead.
Emoree Martin and Ross paced Fountain Lake with eight points each, while Baker finished with seven points and Blees had six points. Summerville scored a game- high 15 points for the Lady Leopards.
“She really stepped up for us tonight,” Martin said. “She’s just a sophomore and she’s still learning, but she’s gaining a lot more confidence with each game. When she drives it makes the other girls collapse, and we can kick it out to our shooters and give them some opportunities as well.”
The Lady Cobras (5-8) will face Bigelow on Wednesday and Perryville on Thursday in the Perry County Classic at Bigelow High School. Snapping an eight- game losing streak to earn their first win of the season, the Lady Leopards resume conference play against visiting Bismarck on Jan. 4.
“We kind of finally got the monkey off our back,” said Martin. “We were confident going in that we could play a lot better than we did last time. I’m really proud of the performance overall to give us some momentum going into the Christmas break.”