By Stephen Roper
With 44 seconds left and the game tied 41-41 against county rival West Henderson, it’s fitting the ball ended up in senior Knight point guard Sydney Lyda’s hands. Driving to the basket and drawing a foul, Lyda swished the deciding free-throws to give her team a hard-fought 43-41 Western Athletic Conference win. She finished with a game-high 16 points, two assists, and two steals and gave the packed house a memorable Senior Night performance.
“I was freaking out,” said Lyda of her thoughts before her game-winning free-throws. “But this feels amazing.”
Taking a lesson from the women’s match-up, West Henderson jumped to an early lead and snuffed the hopes of Knight fans wanting a clean sweep on their final home game of the regular season. The Falcons proved they’re hitting their stride just in time for the postseason, winning handily 68-41 behind a dominant performance on the boards. As a team they pulled down 20 more rebounds than North, led behind the senior duo of Adam Troutman and Daniel Hyatt who each finished with double-doubles. Troutman had 12 points and 11 boards, while Hyatt finished the night with a game-high 18 and 12.
“Rebounding is one of the barometers of effort and I was pleased with our performance down low,” said West coach Rob Bliss.
West’s Kenan Young led the charge in the first quarter and poured in eight of his 17 to push West (11-11, 6-4) out to an early 16-6 lead. The early spurt carried on into the second thanks to Falcon forwards Hyatt and Kevin Thomas, who scored all 15 of West’s points in the quarter. Hyatt stretched the D with two 3-pointers, going 4-of-5 from behind the arc for the night, while Thomas put in seven of his nine points with offensive rebounds and putbacks.
Following their upset of top-ranked Smokey Mountain with a win over North (5-18, 1-9) on senior night, Coach Bliss is encouraged by the direction his team is headed. “We’re really playing hard at this point in the season, which is great to see,” he said. “This is when we tell the kids ‘every game you’re playing for your life,’ and we hope we can just keep our focus.”
For the Lady Knights, Thursday’s game against West was about more than Senior Night: a win secured the third-place spot in the leage and granted them a more favorable berth in upcoming the WAC tournament. And that, combined with Senior Night, pushed them out to an early 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. But West would respond.
The comeback began with Lady Falcon Erica Cantrell’s consecutive jumpers, which Sieara Bishop followed with a floater in the lane. Kaitlyn Burton’s 3 on the next possession pulled West to within one, but North responded with a baseline jumper by Ashley Brown and lay-up by Jessica Hartley. By halftime the Lady Falcons had battled back to a 25-25 tie, and they carried that momentum into the third with a 6-0 run behind a Summer Kremer jumper and offensive putback by Burton.
“The momentum seemed to be on their side,” said North coach Kevin Rhodes. “And me and Coach Whitmire kept telling them to keep their heads up and do what we’ve worked on. We said be smart, and in the last huddle I said we’re not going to let you lose this ball-game, we’re going to win it.”
After a jumper by West’s Alex Stewart tied things up 30-30, Lady Knight Jodi Edwards knocked down an open 3. Ashley Rogers put West up four with a layup, but North’s Ashley Brown his consecutive jumpers to tie things up. She finished the night with 10 points and seven rebounds. Jessica Hartley added 12 points and four rebounds.
North hosts the Western Athletic conference tournament, which begins Monday at 4 p.m.
SUMMARIES
BOYS
WEST HENDERSON (68) — Embler, Thelen, Keenan Young 17, Roberts, Williams 2, Shaw 6, Reeves 2, Adam Troutman 12, Thomas 9, Daniel Hyatt 18, Van Wingerden.
NORTH HENDERSON (41) — Brunelle 6, Lamb, Norton 2, Lancaster, Drake 4, Roberts 6, Pruitt 2, Searcy, Lytle, May 5, Duckett, Morgan 5, Brackett, Brown 9.
Halftime: 31-17 West.
GIRLS
WEST HENDERSON (41) — Summer Kremer 13, Erica Cantrell 10, Burton 7, Turlington, Bishop 5, Stewart 4, Ciaramitaro, Rogers 2.
NORTH HENDERSON (43) — Van Landingham, Sydney Lyda 16, Swann, Ramsey, Dalton, Edwards 3, Ashley Brown 10, Jessica Hartley 12, Patton, Israel 2, Wright.
Halftime: 25-25.
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