Ashe girls lose sixth straight MVC test
Ashe County's Morgan Hudler passes to a teammate in front of East Wilkes' Diamond Hayes
Tuesday night.
Jesse Campbell photo/AMT
Last modified: Jan. 24
Alan Wooten
Ashe County struggled with visiting East Wilkes' 1-2 punch and fell 55-45 in Mountain Valley Conference girls high school basketball Tuesday evening.
The Lady Huskies lost their sixth straight league game despite slicing a 17-point second half deficit to seven. Ashe (6-12, 2-9 MVC) was victimized by a balky offense and the Lady Cardinals draining six 3-pointers.
“I was pleased with our second-half effort,” said Ashe head coach Laura Foster. “We came out sluggish or something in the first half, and we didn't match their intensity.”
East Wilkes' Samantha Adams, a player of the year candidate in the league, scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to anchor the Lady Cardinals (12-7, 9-2 MVC). Ashley Hayes scored 16 of her 18 points in a hot-shooting first half and Erin Royal added 14 of her 17 points in the second half.
“We played the second-place team with a player of the year candidate,” Foster said. “Adams and Royal are averaging about 42 points between them a game. Early on, Hayes was hitting — we had to give up something.”
Ashe was paced by senior Hannah Shipp, who came off the bench to score 13 points and grab seven rebounds. Senior Sierra Wilson added 10 points and six boards.
Senior MacKenzie Johnson was plagued by foul trouble and finished with eight rebounds but only four points.
Ashe led only at 2-0 but never trailed by more than nine in the first half despite Hayes draining four 3-pointers.
Royal's bucket in the third quarter lifted East Wilkes' lead to 37-20. But fullcourt pressure ignited Ashe for 10 straight points from Wilson, sophomore Emily Flanagan, freshman Paige Spell, junior Haley Maloney and Shipp.
East Wilkes nursed a nine-point lead through the final four minutes, scoring on six of their final seven possessions after Johnson fouled out with 2:34 to play.
EAST WILKES 55, ASHE 45
East Wilkes (55) — Ashley Hayes 18, Erin Royal 17, Samantha Adams 13, ShaNisha White 4, Adrian Pardue 2, Diamond Hayes 1, Lexus Wiles, Hannah Brown, Meredith Nance, Christy Carter.
Ashe County (45) — Hannah Shipp 13, Sierra Wilson 10, Chelsea Reavis 8, Paige Spell 5, MacKenzie Johnson 4, Haley Maloney 2, Emily Flanagan 2, Morgan Hudler 1, Kayla Spears.
East Wilkes 13 11 13 18—55
Ashe County 8 9 13 15—45