by Rusty Ellis
The Macon County Tigerettes started slow, but got rolling quickly after in a dominant 52-35 win over Gordonsville on Saturday.
The visiting GHS Tigerettes got off to a fast start, taking a 6-0 lead on a Libby Clark layup. This prompted a quick timeout from MCHS head coach Kailyn Thompson, and what she said in the huddle worked, as a Laityn Kirby transition basket gave Macon a 19-14 lead.
The second quarter saw the home team continue to add on, as they outscored Gordonsville 16-8 to push the advantage to 35-22 at the half.
In the third, Macon’s defense took over and limited the Tigerettes to just five points in the frame. Add in 11 points of their own, and Macon cruised into the fourth quarter with a 19-point lead.
When all was said and done, it was the home team who won the battle of the Tigerettes 52-35.
Defensively, Thompson said she as really pleased with how the team communicated and executed within their zone defense.
“That’s something we’ve been working on a lot lately,” Thompson said. “I thought they did a really good job moving well within our zone, I’m really proud of that…I thought we moved the ball well on offense, and it always helps when the ball is falling from the three-point line. I think we shot 52% from three, so those kinds of games are always fun.”
As far as what she said in the early timeout, Thompson just made some slight adjustments in how the Tigerettes handled the Gordonsville pressure.
“They’ve got that 2-2-1 where they pressure up and cover the middle, so we brought our wings up a little higher,” Thompson said. “I had some wings hiding in the corner, so we just had to bring them up to get up and active in the offense from there.”
District play will ramp up now for Macon, and Thompson knows that means there will be no easy games from here to the end of the season.
“We want to see this team compete,” Thompson said. “We’re excited to have Stone here, and we’re going to try to build on this win with another.”
The Tigers of Gordonsville finished off a season sweep of Macon County with their 58-32 win in the second half of the doubleheader.
The first quarter saw some back-and-forth action, but it was Gordonsville who took the lead with a Brayden Holliman layup right before the buzzer, giving GHS a 12-10 advantage.
Gordonsville turned up their level of energy in the second quarter, outscoring Macon 18-12 to take a 30-22 lead into halftime.
The second half is where the Tigers’ defense showed up and showed out, as they limited MCHS to just 10 second-half points, including a single point in the fourth quarter, to run away with the game and earn a season sweep of the Macon County Tigers 58-32.
J. Foster led the way for Gordonsville with 15 points, while Holliman added 14. Cason Gregory paced Macon with 10 points.
The defensive effort is what stuck out to head coach Greg Bibb, and seeing as it’s something he and his staff have emphasized a lot recently, it’s one of the first things he praised.
“That’s two nights in a row where the thing we did well was what I’d been fussing about all season,” Bibb said. “We took some big steps forward this week…We fought on the boards, I’m just really proud of our kids.”
That defensive effort is ultimately what led to Gordonsville taking control of the scoreboard and never looking back.
“We gave up 10 points in the second half, and just one in the fourth quarter,” Bibb said. “We’re smart enough with the basketball that we can run stuff over and over in the fourth quarter…the fight that they brought tonight, I’m just really proud of it.”
Two games in a row have seen Gordonsville do exactly what Bibb wanted, but he knows he’ll have to stay on them if he wants them to keep it going.
“We’ve just got to stay on them in practice,” Bibb said. “I’m proud of the guys that are stepping up as leaders…it’s a consistency thing. When you create a habit, you don’t have to think about it anymore. By doing it over and over, you’re creating that habit.”
Macon will host Stone Memorial on Tuesday, while Gordonsville will head to Byrdstown to take on Pickett County.
