WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

When two evenly matched teams step onto the court and give maximum effort, it’s a treat for everyone in attendance. That is what the crowd was blessed with when the lady Titans of West Forsyth took on the Lady Knights from North Davidson last Friday evening. After relenting the lead for the first time all night late in the fourth quarter, the Lady Titans overcame adversity and won 38-36.

Early on in the first quarter defense held the upper hand for both teams. Neither offense could establish any consistency. The full court press implemented by North Davidson was giving West Forsyth fits leading to a number of turnovers.  The lady Knights failed to convert many of the chances they were handed as they did not score until five minutes into the game.

Throughout the first half, North Davidson had some great looks at the bas-ket but failed to make many of those shots.  They also failed to convert from the free throw line, which eventually hurt them in the end.

“We hustled very hard and we missed some free throws that we should have made that would have kept us in the ballgame early on,” said North Davidson head coach Shaundee Woosley.  “The other team played great but I think we put in some great hustle tonight and you can’t ask for much more than hustle.”

Gwen Onumah, Layla Walker and Madison Dwiggins all played well for West Forsyth in the first half.  They were major contributors to the 16-12 lead at the half for the Titans.

Troubles from the free throw line continued into the third quarter for the Knights.  They routinely missed shots from the charity stripe that could have opened up a sizable lead for them.  Even though the Knights were having trouble from the line, it did not affect their defensive intensity as they only trailed by one at the end of the third.

Heading into the fourth, North Davidson was in the double bonus early on, meaning any foul committed on them would result in two shots from the line. To counteract their foul trouble and maintain the lead, the Titans went to a stall offense to run some clock.  This strategy did not prove effective, as the Knights were able to close to within 1 at 27-26.

Later in the fourth quarter, the Knights were able to take their first lead in the game when Jordan Holt hit a layup with under five minutes left in the game.  The Titans quickly answered with a layup of their own from Onumah.  With less than two minutes to go and trailing by one, Jordan Taylor of West Forsyth grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast to score a basket, giving the Titans the lead once again.

The Titans would not relinquish the lead and held on to win 38-36.  West Forsyth head coach Bill Rudert said with the lack of practice time his team had recently, he knew this would be a messy game, but was happy with their effort.

“We had a lot of turnovers and there were time when we played very well,” Rudert said.  “I’m glad we won but there is a lot of things we have to work on but a win is a win.  This is how it’s going to be in conference season.  Every game is going to be a dog fight.  My team needs to know that every game is going to be tooth and nail and we need to fight for every possession and we did just enough of that to come through tonight.”

Woosley said she told her team during halftime that they had to continue to hustle and run their plays correctly to have a chance to win in the end.  She says not boxing out and missing free throws really hurt her team.  Going forward she thinks if a few things go their way they will come out on top more often than not.