Maidens thwart Ladycat attack

Caroline Perrier The Whitehouse Ladycats took it to the Jacksonville Maidens in the early going of Friday’s showdown in Wildcat Arena.

The team’s determination showed as they executed in all areas – offense, defense and breaking the Jacksonville press – and claimed an early 6-0 lead in the low-scoring first period.

That momentum wouldn’t hold, however, as Jacksonville regrouped and the Ladycats missed some easy buckets. The Maidens controlled the second and third periods to take a 54-38 win and drop the Ladycats to 4-4 in district action.

Jacksonville had closed the early gap to 6-5 by the end of the first quarter and then benefited from some Whitehouse misses to surge ahead, 17-10.

The Ladycats ran a successful inbounds play that saw Tayler Burkett hit a jumper to break the Whitehouse scoring drought, but Jacksonville closed out the half on a 5-0 run to stay up, 22-12.

Caroline Perrier hit a three-pointer to open the second half, but it was all Jacksonville for several minutes as the Maidens went up 32-15.

Erica Jordan sank a layup for Whitehouse and then the Ladycats picked up a few points at the line, but the Maidens continued to extend the lead, achieving their biggest advantage, 43-20, with just under a minute left in the third period.

Whitehouse refused to give up, however. Perrier hit her second trey of the period and then added a jumper as the final period began, cutting the Maiden lead to 17 (43-26).

The Ladycat defense stepped up and fueled a 6-0 spurt with baskets from Shante Thomas and Sasha Wickware that forced Jacksonville to call a timeout at the 5:52 mark.

Whitehouse made it a 10- point game, 45-35, when Chastity Stewart hit the front end of a pair of free throws. Her miss on number two looked like good luck for the Ladycats when Abigail Crawford came up with the rebound and went back up, but the shot was off and there was no foul call.

Most of the Jacksonville scoring from that point took place at the line as the Ladycats were forced to foul with time running out.

Jacksonville’s Amber Hawkins led all scorers with 20 points, and the Maidens enjoyed a 36 to 19 rebounding edge over the Ladycats.

Chastity Stewart was the top scorer for Whitehouse with 10 points, followed by Perrier with nine, Wickware seven and Thomas six.

Jordan added four points and Burkett two.

In the JV contest, Whitehouse sur vived a Jacksonville rally to hold on for a 34-22 win.

The Ladycats were up 10- 5 at the end of the first on a basket from Katherine Weathers and then went on to take a 21-5 lead into the break after a layup from Angela Knight.

Both teams scored five points in the third period and then the Maidens chipped away at the lead to get within eight, 30-22, before Kenslie Dews scored the last four points for Whitehouse.