WHS girls

settle for split
By Daniel Clark
Special to the Democrat

The Watauga girls basketball team knew coming into Friday night’s Northwestern 4-A Conference opener against Freedom that they would have to stop one of the more prolific scorers in the league in Ali Ford.

The Pioneers held Ford scoreless until the 5:50 mark of the second quarter before she erupted for eight straight points and 23 total to lead the Patriots to a 68-52 win at Lentz-Eggers gym. The Pioneers followed with a 60-54 win Saturday at Wilkes Central.

Pioneers coach Klay Anderson said keeping an eye on Ford was a priority all week in practice.

“We talked about controlling her all week,” Anderson said. “You don’t stop a player like that. You force her to play your game, you pressure and frustrate her and I think we did that early but great players are going to find their shots. When you get behind on a team like that its hard to dig out.”

Freedom (7-6, 1-0 NWC) held Watauga (7-6, 0-2) with out a field goal for the first four and a half minutes of the game but turnovers and miscues plagued the Patriots. Watauga forced 11 first half turnovers, 20 on the night, and even out rebounded Freedom 25-19.

“It takes baby steps and I hate moral victories but you have to look at the positives,” Anderson said. “We out rebounded them and except for the second quarter where we were doing some things uncharacteristic of our team, played better.”

The Pioneers seemed to go scoreless when Ford heated up. Ford scored her first first basket at the 5:50 mark of the second quarter, just after an Ashlyn Baird basket that would bring Watauga within one at 15-14.
However Watauga would not score another basket from the floor in the half. Freedom went on a 18-3 run to end the half up 33-17.

Watauga out scored the Patriots 16-14 in the third quarter. After a Ford 3-pointer opened the fourth, went on a 8-0 run cut the lead to nine a forced a timeout from Freedom coach Amber Fox. Watauga cut the lead to eight on a Baird 3-pointer before Freedom would mount their final attack to put the game away.

The Pioneers were led by Baird with 12 points, Bekah Pineda, Katherine Mayhew, and Katelyn Creed each had seven.

Watauga was back in action Saturday at Wilkes Central. Watauga held the Eagles with to one first half field goal, that came at the 3:07 mark of the second quarter on their way to building a 27-7 lead. However the Eagles would notch 11 points at the free throw line in the first half and cut the Pioneer lead to 28-13 at the break.

“The first half was in our tempo, we got our break going and from an outsiders view everything looked great,” Anderson said. “It concerned me that we were only up 15 at the break and we had been sending them to the free throw line. Give credit to coach Waugh. They believed and never gave up and when he switched to the zone we started chucking shots without getting inside touches.”

Wilkes Central would go on an 11-0 run to start the third quarter and cut the Pioneer lead to four. Wilkes Central would get as close as one the rest the way at 40-39 before the Pioneer put the game away down the stretch with free throws to win the game. The Pioneers balanced attack was led by Ryann Jones with 11 points and Sarah Miller with nine. Every Pioneer scored with the exception of Sarah Caldwell who contributed with four steals and six assists at the point guard position.

Watauga returns to action Tuesday night to host McDowell at Lentz-Eggers gym.