Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Clay County Lady Bulldogs overcame an early deficit to defeat Pickett County 64-47 on Friday night.
Things started out positively for the Lady Bobcats, as they jumped out to a 17-8 lead on the strength of five three-pointers.
The lead would be short-lived however, as Clay scored the first 12 points of the second quarter to take a 20-17 advantage. When the buzzer sounded to end the first half, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves holding a 29-26 lead.
The Clay County offense came alive in the second half, outscoring the Lady Bobcats 18-12 to push their lead to 47-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
There, the Lady Bobcats just couldn’t muster enough offense or stops on defense to put together a comeback, leading to a 64-47 win for Clay County.
The win gives them the top seed for the district tournament.
Abby Head led the way with a game-high 28 points, while Briley Burchett scored 14 points for head coach Matthew Walker.
“The defensive end was the big thing,” Walker said. “They made five threes in the first quarter and I told the girls if they made 20, we weren’t going to win…I told them they would start missing eventually, and we did a good job on the boards.”
Walker has emphasized that the team should be peaking at the right time in the season, and right now, he feels good about where his girls are at.
“All of our players are settling into roles,” Walker said. “Our health is starting to improve…the girls are shooting the ball well, so I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
The Bulldogs followed up the girls with a gritty 46-43 win of their own over the Bobcats.
Both teams battled back-and-forth throughout, beginning in the first quarter where Clay County took a 15-14 lead at the end of the first.
Clay stretched the lead further in the second, as they outscored Pickett 14-10 to run the advatange to 29-24 at the break.
Pickett came out swinging in the third, scoring the first five points of the frame to tie the game. Clay County answered with a couple buckets of their own, but the Bobcats won the frame 12-8 to cut the lead down to one heading into the fourth.
Both teams’ defenses settled in for the fourth, as Clay maintained their lead at 46-43 after a pair of free throws from Jeff Spivey. Pickett took over possession with 11 seconds remaining, but failed to get a shot off as the Bulldogs earned the season sweep of Pickett County.
Spivey led the way with 16 points, while Grant Strong added 14 for head coach Rob Edwards, who had plenty of praise for his defense.
“I was telling them in the locker room, it doesn’t have to be pretty,” Edwards said. “Defensively, we got it done…as long as we end up on top, that’s what we did tonight. On the defensive end is where we won the game tonight.”
This team still has four remaining contests left in the regular season, and while there’s plenty for the Bulldogs to improve on, Edwards says he’s pleased as a whole as far as where his team is at.
“I like where we are,” Edwards said. “There are things we can tweak and things we can adjust and work on…I think we’ll see Pickett again at some point, so it’s still a long way to go before we quit playing basketball, I hope.”
Clay County will be back in action on Saturday at Clinton County (Ky).
