S. Caldwell proves

too much for WHS girls

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

It took just eight minutes for Watauga to fall behind South Caldwell. It took the rest of the game for the Pioneers to try and catch up.

Watauga outscored South Caldwell in two quarters, but could not overcome the Spartans and fell 61-55 Friday at Lentz-Eggers Gym.

Watauga got off to a slowstart against a young South Caldwell team that starts three freshmen. The Pioneers fell behind 9-0 when South Caldwell scored on its first four possessions.

The Spartans made it 15-0 before a trio of foul shots from Ryann Jones, who was fouled on a 3-point attempt, finally got the Pioneers on the scoreboard with 3:04 left in the quarter. South Caldwell, helped by two 3-point buckets from Katie Sharp, eventually took a 23-7 lead at the end of the first quarter that simply was too big for the Pioneers to overtake.

Sharp did her share of the damage by hitting five 3-pointers, all in the first half, and finishing with 17 points. Vantenea Williams added 13 points and Matison Hall had 10 for the Spartans.

After their slow start, the Pioneers began the task of battling back into contention. They trailed 39-22 in the second quarter, but got a big boost very late in the period when Jones hit two foul shots with 4.7 seconds left.

Jones then knocked the ball away on the ensuing inbounds pass and Katherine Mayhew drained a 3-point bucket as the buzzer went off to pull the Pioneers to within 39-27.

After a Spartans basket at the start of the third quarter, Watauga continued to chip away at the South Caldwell lead. The Pioneers went on a 16-2 run, which was capped by a 3-pointer by Ashlyn Baird and a Nicole Tesh layup, and tied the game at 43-43.

Leading 45-44, South Caldwell closed out the quarter with two stickback buckets by Brooklyn Boston and led 49-44. A Sarah Caldwell 3-pointer with 4:25 pulled Watauga to within 51-49, but South Caldwell gradually pulled away the rest of the quarter. The Pioneers did not help themselves by making just two baskets after Caldwell’s trey.

Caldwell hit two of Watauga five 3-pointers and ended up with eight points. Baird, who had two other 3-point baskets, led the Pioneers in scoring with 12 points. Jones finished with seven.
Watauga plays at powerful Freedom Tuesday night and at McDowell Friday.

South Caldwell 61, Watauga 55

South Caldwell
Minton 1 4-4 6, Hall 4 2-2 10, Sharp 6 0-0 17, Gross 2 4-12 9, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Boston 2 2-4 6, Williams 5 3-5 13, Spencer 0 0-0 0, Queen 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 15-27 61.

Watauga
Butler 0 2-2 2, Caldwell 3 0-0 8, Baird 4 2-3 12, R. Pineda 3 0-2 6, Creed 1 0-0 2, Tesh 2 1-4 5, Jones 1 5-5 7, E. Pineda 3 0-2 6, Mayhew 1 2-2 5, Miller 0 0-0 0, Rees 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 12-20 55.

South Caldwell 23 16 10 12 — 61
Watauga 7 20 17 11 — 55
3-point goals—South Caldwell 6 (Sharp 5, Gross), Watauga 5 (Caldwell 2, Baird 2, Mayhew). Turnovers—South Caldwell 17, Watauga 20. Total fouls—South Caldwell 23, Watauga 24. Fouled out—Boston. Technical fouls—None.