Lincoln Girls Fall At Huntsville

HUNTSVILLE —A slow start coupled with another shooting slump in the second quarter dashed Lincoln’s hopes of winning in a 39-26 loss at Huntsville on Friday.

The loss was the second conference defeat Lincoln suffered during the week having lost a tough, 49-46, home court battle against Berryville on Jan. 6. Huntsville (13-4,3-1) jumped out to a 10- 1 lead on Chandler Sone’s back- to- back 3-pointers.

Lincoln’s first field goal of the contest came with 1:46 left in the first quarter when Jaycie Neeley put in a right-handed shot on an in- bounds play. A minute later Ashtyn Rothrock drove hard to the hoop and drew contact but no whistle. The no- call turned in Lincoln’s favor with Kendra Cummings snagging the offensive rebound and passing to Neeley, who nailed a trifecta from the top of the key.

The Lady Wolves trailed 10-6 after one quarter and struggled to find the basket in the second period. Neeley’s running shot over two Huntsville defenders fell in two minutes and three seconds into the second trimming the deficit to 12- 8 but Lincoln would not score again in the first half.

Meanwhile Huntsville tacked on 7 unanswered points to go into the halftime break leading 19-8.

“We had trouble getting into our offense,” said Lincoln coach Brian Davenport. “We had to attack the pressure with pressure and it took us a little while to figure out we weren’t going to get any open looks on the perimeter.”

Both teams had trouble scoring early in the third. Lincoln got a field goal from Courtney Lloyd and free throws from Madison Rich, who slashed her way to the hoop. Rich’s charity shots pulled the Lady Wolves within, 19-12, and Lincoln had a chance to draw even closer; but a critical no-call with Rothrock getting hammered on a drive led to a 4- point swing. Going the other way a foul was called against Lincoln and Sone sank two free-throws to push Huntsville back out to a 21- 12 lead.

Huntsville exploded for 11 points over the last 2:46 of the period while holding Lincoln to four free-throws during the span and led 32-18 at the close of the third.

Rich began the fourth by yanking down a defensive rebound, then pushing the ball up the floor and swishing a pull- up 3- pointer but Sone answered with a trifecta for Huntsville. Midway through the quarter Rich’s foul shots narrowed the gap to 37-24 and although the Eagles would only score 2 points the rest of the way they burned the clock and won, 39-26.

Neeley led Lincoln with 10 points. Rich added 7 and Cummings 5 with Lloyd and Rynn Nesmith each scoring 2 points.

Davenport, who is in his first season of coaching in the 4A-1, is getting more familiar with the league after seeing conference opponents. Berryville, a 2014 state tournament team, handed the Lady Wolves a 49-46 loss at Lincoln earlier in the week. Lincoln is now 11-6 overall and 2-2 in league play.

“They [Berryville] are an experienced, veteran team, they are very fundamentally sound,” Davenport said. “We just needed a couple of things to bounce our way. We missed our assignments and they took advantage and capitalized on some 3-point shots.”

After hosting Shiloh Christian on Tuesday, Lincoln visits Gentry on Friday as 4A-1 play continues.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER A referee explains a no-call to Lincoln girls basketball coach Brian Davenport during Friday’s 4A-1 Conference contest at Huntsville. Lincoln lost 39-26 and Davenport reminded the officials to blow their whistles after Ashtyn Rothrock (left) was hammered while driving to the basket and no foul was called.