Oakwood Lady Eagles shine in overtime win
The Oakwood Christian Lady Eagles won a basketball game last Monday night, but more importantly, they grew up a little bit.
Facing overtime with their best all-around player having fouled out in regulation and with their best outside shooter out of the game with an injury, head coach Kraig Givens was forced to go to depend on some different faces in the four-minute extra session.
And those different faces responded.
Freshman Lexie Asher had four points and three huge defensive rebounds in overtime, sophomore Mary Catherine Ownby had a clutch basket and assisted on two more, while senior Tori Hall knocked down four free throws as the Navy-and-Gold held visiting Georgia Cumberland Academy to just one overtime point in a 54-45 victory in Chickamauga.
“Everyone on our team has the ability to handle the ball and (the ability) to score and they all know that,” Givens said. “It was nice for them to be able to depend on that rather than depend on other people. Tonight, they figured out how to play together and how to change their mindset. We were struggling most of the game with that and finally, in overtime, it all clicked.”
A physical, but entertaining game saw Oakwood (2-1) lead 1615 at the end of the first quarter. But the Lady Jaguars scored the final five points of the half in the final 1:41 to grab a 25-24 advantage at the break.
GCA would use a 7-0 run in the third quarter to take their biggest lead of the game, 32-26. But Oakwood refused to go quietly and ended the period of an 8-2 run, which tied things up at 34 entering the final quarter of play.
The score would be tied five times in the fourth before the Lady Jaguars edged in front, 44-42, on a shot by Mei Chin with just over 30 seconds remaining. GCA’s Olivia Williams missed an opportunity to give her team a potential four-point lead as she missed the front end of a one-andone with 17.2 seconds to play.
Hall came up with the rebound and headed toward midcourt when she drew a two-shot foul near the sideline. Hall missed the first attempt, prompting Givens to call timeout to discuss strategy.
Coming out of the brief break, Hall, as ordered, intentionally missed the second shot, but it bounced right off the rim and right back to Hall, who wasn’t boxed out on the shot. She banked in a 6-footer to tie things at 44 and GCA’s final look at the buzzer found only the rim.
“There were a lot of different things we could have done right there, but Tori was pretty happy when I told her to miss (on
“Everyone on our team has the ability to handle the ball and (the ability) to score and they all know that. It was nice for them to be able to depend on that rather than depend on other people. Tonight, they figured out how to play together and how to change their mindset. We were struggling most of the game with that and finally, in overtime, it all clicked.” -- Kraig Givens
purpose),” Givens added. “It took a lot of pressure off of her. She almost didn’t miss it, but it worked in our favor for sure.”
It was all Lady Eagles in overtime. Ownby drove the lane and dished off to Asher twice for lay-ups, while adding a tough bucket of her own off the glass. Hall hit two free throws with 2:22 left to play and added two more in the final five seconds to seal the win. GCA’s was held scoreless in overtime until a lone free throw with 11 seconds remaining.
Givens said a team victory like this one would do wonders for his team’s confidence going forward.
“I think for us, it helps them to understand how important controlling the game is. We’re a good defensive team, but the pressure (Georgia Cumberland) put on got to us and we didn’t know what to do with it. But we finally figured it out (in overtime) and that was huge because we’re definitely going to face some more pressure later in the season.”
Hall led the way with 14 points and added five steals,. Asher had 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Annika Green had 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists before fouling out in the fourth. Maddie Lewis collected nine rebounds, while Ownby had nine points and five boards. Kylie Hall added seven points, but left the game with an early third quarter injury.
Oakwood boys 57, Georgia Cumberland 45
A 16-0 run that spanned parts of the first and second quarter provided more than enough cushion for the Eagles, who moved to 2-1 with a win over the Jaguars from Calhoun.
John-Jacob McSpadden enjoyed a career-high in points (24) and 3-pointers (5) to lead the way for Oakwood. McSpadden hit four treys in the opening half as the Eagles built a 26-9 lead at intermission.
The Jaguars would finally get their offense going in the second half and briefly cut the Eagles’ lead to single digits, 45-36, with 3:25 to play.
But McSpadden, Garrisson Baggett and Matthew McDonough would all connect on buckets in the paint to push the lead back to 13 with 2:10 to go. McDonough then put a bow on the win in the final minute by dribbling the length of the floor through three defenders before dishing off to Baggett for a lay-up with 27 seconds to play.
McDonough had 20 points to go with 15 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals, while Zack Cohen dropped in seven points.