Lady Tigers Perfect, Gain 1st Conference Win 50-47

BY NORM BETZ –

The Acorn Lady Tigers are off to a great start this season, currently unbeaten and now 1-0 in conference play. The Lady Tigers led at the end of every quarter and hung on to defeat the Lady Indians of Caddo Hills 50-47. Acorn led by as many as eight points, made things exciting late, but held on to remain a

perfect 7-0 to start the 2014-15 season.

The Lady Tigers scored the first seven points of the game and didn’t give up a basket to the Lady Indians until :55 left in the opening quarter. Acorn led 10-2 at the completion of the first quarter. Almost half of the first quarter expired before senior Adrianna Howard started off the Lady Tigers scoring with the rare four point play. Howard drilled a three-pointer and then knocked down the and-one after being fouled on the shot. Howard also connected on one-of-two from the free throw line and then dropped a 15-foot jumper as the buzzer sounded to end the first. Senior Misty Oglesby made a 12-foot jumper and one-of-two from the stripe to close out the first quarter scoring.

Senior Jessica Looney equaled the Lady Tigers biggest lead of eight points, when she drained a pair from beyond the arc to put Acorn up 16-8 with 5:10 to play in the second quarter. Lady Indians outscored the Lady Tigers 12-10 in the second quarter, but Acorn held onto a 20-14 lead at halftime.

Senior Jessica Looney equaled the Lady Tigers biggest lead of eight points, when she drained a pair from beyond the arc to put Acorn up 16-8 with 5:10 to play in the second quarter. Howard knocked down a pair from the charity stripe and junior Ashlee Long rounded out the second quarter scoring hitting a layup with 1:52 left in the half to put the Lady Tigers up 20-14 heading to the locker room.

The Lady Indians came out and outscored the Lady Tigers 12-4 in the first six minutes of the third quarter to grab their first lead of the game, 26-24. Looney and senior Tara Warrington both had layups for Acorn and Oglesby’s driving layup knotted the score at 26-all with 1:45 to play in the quarter. Caddo Hills was called for an intentional foul, but Acorn could only muster one-of-two from the line and then turned the ball over after being awarded possession. Junior Teagan Vann hit the free throw and Long closed out the Lady Tigers scoring hitting a pair from the charity stripe and then beat the buzzer with a layup to give Acorn a 31-30 lead at the end of the third.

Caddo Hills started the fourth on a 9-1 run to grab their biggest lead of the contest, 39-32. Acorn answered their run with a 9-2 run of their own to lock the score at 41-41 with less than four minutes to play in the opening conference game of the season. Looney led the way during the run, hitting three buckets from the field and converting one-of-two from the line. After missing the first of a one-and-bonus, Warrington fouled out, while Howard rounded out the scoring with a 12-foot jumper. Sophomore Ashton Shores connected on one-of-two from the stripe early in the fourth for the Lady Tigers. The Lady Indians scored the next two buckets on a pair of layups before the Lady Tigers answered with Looney converting the three-point play the old-fashioned way, after making the layup off the steal and drilling the free throw. Acorn increased their lead to 48-45 when Looney made both of her double-bonus free throws with :20.5 left in the game. The Lady Indians went coast-to-coast on the in-bounds play and trailed by one, 48-47 with :14.4 showing on the clock. Long sealed the deal for Acorn, hitting two-of-two from the line to secure the 50-47 victory and keep the Lady Tigers perfect (7-0) on the season.

FINAL STATS: Acorn 50: Jessica Looney led all scorers with 20 points and hitting 6-of-7 (86%) from the line, Adrianna Howard added 11 points and hit 4-of-5 (80%) from the line, Ashlee Long added 10 points and hit 4-of-6 (67%) from the line, Misty Oglesby added five points and made 1-of-2 (50%) from the line, Tara Warrington added two points and went 0-for-1 from the stripe, Ashton Shores added 1-of-2 (50%) from the line, while Teagan Vann was good for 1-of-3 (33%) to round out the Lady Tigers scoring. As a team Acorn shot 65% (17-of-26) from the free throw line.

Caddo Hills 47: Larissa Martin scored 16 points and went 2-of-3 from the line, Haley Forest scored 11 points and made 2-of-5 from the line, Jayden Fant and Haley Ortiz both scored six points and went 2-of-4 and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, respectively. Morns added four points 2-of-2 from the line, while Jordan Powell and Madi Hill each tossed in a bucket for Caddo Hills. As a team, the Lady Indians shot 67% (12-of-18) from the line.

About Author

Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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