by Rusty Ellis
Upperman split their doubleheader against Siegel on Saturday, with the Lady Bees winning in comeback fashion 54-42 over the Lady Stars.
Girls
It wasn’t the best of starts for the Lady Bees, as Siegel used a red-hot start from the three-point line to build a 17-5 lead after the first eight minutes of play. After Upperman opened the second with a three of their own, Siegel scored the next five to build their largest lead of the night at 22-8, prompting a Lady Bee timeout.
Sadie South began to make her presence felt on the game with a couple threes to pull the Lady Bees within 22-14, and a Bella Mullins three-point play right before the buzzer trimmed the deficit to just 28-20 at the break.
Taylor Dolente opened the third with a couple threes of her own to cut into the lead further, and South added another three to give Upperman a 41-37 lead with 1:22 to go in the third quarter. The Lady Stars knocked down another three of their own to make it a one-point game heading into the fourth quarter at 41-40.
Both teams started slow in the fourth, but a big run powered by another South three and another Mullins three-point play gave Upperman a nine-point lead at 51-42, and it was all Lady Bees from there, as they went on to win 54-42.
South led the way with a team-high 18 points, while Mullins followed close behind with 13 points of her own.
It may not have been the prettiest of starts for her team, but head coach Dana McWilliams says there’s plenty to learn from having to fight through that adversity like her team did on Saturday.
“They came out on fire, we knew they were a good team,” McWilliams said. “We didn’t do the things we typically do to get off to a slow start, but I’m proud of our effort in the second half…we just talked about what we were doing out there, and any time you get down like that, you can’t get in back in one play. We know we can shoot the ball well, so we knew we could get some points going if we were patient.”
South led the way in a game that saw the Lady Bees make 11 three-pointers in a comeback win, something McWilliams hopes gets the team rolling offensively.
“Sadie had another phenomenal night, and Taylor hit some big shots too,” McWilliam said. “Our team finds who needs the ball when they need the ball, so they’re a very unselfish team. Tonight, it was Sadie.”
Boys
The Bees battled after falling behind early, but couldn’t overcome a 31-point night from Siegel star Carter Webb in a 58-48 defeat.
It was another hot start for Siegel from behind the three-point line early, though the Bees were able to keep within striking distance and trailed just 13-9 at the end of the first quarter. Upperman cut the lead to one on a Ty Cobb layup in transition, but Siegel closed the first half strong, and took a 25-19 lead into the halftime break.
In the third, a back-and-forth quarter saw the Stars hold off a furious rally from the Bees. Cobb closed the frame out with a tough leaning midrange jumper to make it a one-point lead for Siegel at 34-33 heading to the fourth quarter.
Upperman remained within a point at 37-36 with just under five minutes to go in regulation, but two technical free throws and a Siegel three pushed the lead to 42-36 on one possession.
That would go on to be the dagger, as the Stars made free throws late when they counted to help ice the victory. Worth noting, the game was called early by the officials with 4.2 seconds remaining in the game after the crew decided the game had reached its boiling point, with the Stars winning 58-48.
Cobb paced the Bees with 17 points, while Bronzden Chaffin scored 11 points for head coach Bobby McWilliams.
Though not the result he wanted, McWilliams said it was a good test for his team against a really good Siegel squad.
“We were not able to execute,” McWilliams said. “I thought our kids battled, we got down and cut it to one twice…they ended up making some plays and made free throws down the stretch. They’ve got a lot of length at multiple positions, and that’s something we haven’t seen very much. That was a really good game for us to be in, that’s a really good team that does a good job of sharing the ball.”
As McWilliams continued, it was clear the way he viewed this matchup was as a game that could help prepare his team for the teams they might see later on in the season.
“That’s what we do this for,” McWilliams said. “We played Clay the other night and outside of that, we’ve played 4A teams…we want to push our kids, and the actual basketball game that went on tonight, that was really good for our guys in terms of having to deal with that length and how they use it…that’s a great game for us in December. There are some things we’ll have to build on.”
Both teams will now head to Orlando for some Holiday tournament action over the next week, where we will have live coverage on our Facebook page.
