The Gilmer Lady Cats were in Union County to deliver a defeat to the Panthers.
GHS played the nonregion game last Tuesday, and the Cats’ sloppy play nearly cost them. Neither team took care of the ball particularly well, but Gilmer did just enough for a 56-53 victory.
Gilmer was in Murray County two days later, and the Cats had the Indians right where they wanted them at the half. However, MCHS started to score in transition to pull ahead for a 53-36 win.
Union’s press led to risky and errant passes for the Cats. When the Cats were able to build any type of lead, turnovers kept the Panthers within striking distance.
“The game was disappointing to me because they out scrapped us and out hustled us,” head coach David Dowse said. “We were kind of — for lack of a better term — suckered into playing their style of basketball instead of ours. We were fortunate to come out with a win, but it wasn’t the style of basketball that I would like to see us play. When you talk about an identity, that style of play is good for some teams, but it’s not good for us.”
GHS committed 31 turnovers that the Panthers turned into 26 points. UCHS struggled offensively and shot just 35 percent from the field compared to 50 percent for GHS. The three ball was a weapon for the Cats as they made 10 on the night.
A slow first quarter saw the Cats lead 10-6 and they led 28-19 at the break. GHS went on a run in the third, but turnovers allowed UCHS to only trail 43-38.
GHS was nearly forced to go into overtime. The Cats inbound pass led to a turnover with less than five seconds on the clock. A UCHS three pointer at the buzzer did not fall, and GHS claimed a three-point win.
“I can’t believe a varsity game had 57 turnovers. They sped us up and got us playing at their tempo and their pace, and that’s just not where we’re at our best,” Dowse said.
Mak Taylor scored 12 points for GHS and grabbed six rebounds. Jace Sanderson tallied 11 while both Bree Burnette and Ally Phillips contributed 10. Phillips nailed three pointer buzzer beaters at the end of the first and second quarters. Morgan Palmeri scored eight, and Sanderson, Jaylee McDaniel and Chelsey Griggs all collected five boards. Griggs led the way with four assists.
GHS cut its turnovers to 18 against Murray but shot 29 percent from the field. Gilmer led by two after a quarter but a 7-0 Murray run to close out the half put GHS behind by 21-19 at the break.
“In the first half we looked really good and were up 19-14 well into the second quarter and they went on a little run,” Dowse said. “They were up at the half by two, but we did what we talked about doing. We virtually slowed them and stopped them in transition, which is a big part of their game. We held their two top scorers to a total of five points in the first half, and one picked up her third foul.”
GHS only made two shots from the field in the third and Murray’s lead grew to 37-25 with a quarter to play. Dowse had seen enough in the fourth and made wholesale changes.
“At halftime we talked about some tweaks to our offense and mainly talked about the first three minutes of the third quarter,” he said. “We wanted to come out and throw the first punch and establish control of the game, and we didn’t do it. They started to get out in transition, we didn’t rotate correctly, we took bad shots and before you knew it they were up 10 or so.”
Taylor had 10 points on the night and both Burnette and Sanderson scored eight. Sanderson and Griggs both had four rebounds and Palmeri and McDaniel secured three apiece.
The Cats began Pickens’ Thanksgiving tournament with a 48-47 loss to Woodstock and are 1-3 on the season. A full recap of the tournament will appear in next week’s Times-Courier.