Lady Bobcats hold off South Webster's 4th quarter comeback to run record to 8-1

FRANKLIN FURNACE — After a sluggish performance on Saturday, the Lady Bobcats showed more energy on Monday night, storming out to a big lead and then holding off a late comeback charge from the South Webster Lady Jeeps and earn a 44-37 win in a divisional crossover game between Southern Ohio Conference members.

Following Saturday's win at Greenup County, Lady Bobcats coach Melissa Knapp stressed the importance of playing with more energy and making plays.

But despite the quick turnaround, Knapp was pleased with the teams' overall performance.

"I thought we put a good game together. I know we only won by seven, but everyone is going to give us their best game. That's a good quality win for us."

Much like last game, Green's success came from attacking the paint and getting to the foul line, and again the player who made the biggest impact was Abbie Knapp.

The Lady Bobcats made 10 trips to the foul line and went 13-of-19 at the line, with Knapp shooting the majority of them and going 12-of-14.

"I'm just grateful that I made those after working on them, because I would've been so mad," said Abbie.

Knapp led all scorers on the night and earned a double-double with 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Laney Strickland finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Ava Abrams scored 5 points and had 4 rebounds. Elizabeth McBee had 4 points and Destiny Alexander had 2.

Green was able to control the first half by dominating the glass, as they out-rebounded the Lady Jeeps 21-13.

"Coach told me in the locker room she was looking forward to me getting big boards tonight," said Strickland "Then when I went down and came out, they came back a little bit and coach said you have to get in there, we need the boards."

Abbie Knapp shared the same sentiments about the teams' importance of improving their rebounding.

"We've been working on it in practice a lot and done a lot of rebounding drills. Trust me, I get tired of it. It's something we struggled with at the beginning of the season and we've definitely gotten better."

And as a result, Green controlled the score by taking a 20-8 lead into the locker room.

In the third, South Webster began to find some rhythm on offense, as Avary Claxon and Emma Campbell each scored 5 points to help cut into Green's lead.

Knapp kept pace with 7 of the Lady Bobcats' 8 points in the third. The other points came off a free throw by McBee.

When Avary Claxon scored a layup on a foul underneath and converted her free throw for the 3-point play, the Lady Jeeps only trailed 28-20 heading into the final quarter.

South Webster continued to claw their way back the fourth, getting 6 points from Violet Edwards, 5 from Addi Claxon, two buckets from Avary Claxon and a pair of free throws by Campbell.

The Lady Jeeps went on a run to cut Green's lead down to just 36-32 following a 3-pointer from Edwards.

But Strickland came up big on the ensuing possession with a score down low off a feed from Knapp to give the Lady Bobcats a 6-point lead again.

"That play meant a lot to me," said Strickland. "I've been struggling with finishing a little bit in the post. I've been working on it a lot and I need to get better at it because I want to go far when I get older."

However South Webster wouldn't go away, as Campbell would draw a foul underneath and sink both of her free throws, shrinking Green's lead to 38-34 with just 1:03 showing on the clock.

Both teams would answer on consecutive possessions with Knapp being fouled and converting both of her foul shots.

Then Edwards answered with a jumper along the baseline to make it 40-36 with 40 seconds remaining.

But the Lady Jeeps would be forced to foul the rest of the way, sending Knapp to the line two more times and the junior would convert 4-of-4 to close the game out for Green.

"I think at halftime we thought we were in the driver's seat. South Webster is a good ball club, they're very athletic, and a lot of good young kids. I told the kids you can't let up and you see what happened."

The Lady Jeeps were led by the Claxon's, with Avary scoring 13 and 2 assists and Addi finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds and a pair of steals.

South Webster 5 3 12 17 = 37

Green 14 6 8 16 = 44

SOUTH WEBSTER 37 (4-4): Natalee Eskridge 0 0 0-0 0, Avary Claxon 5 1 0-0 13, Emma Campbell 1 1 2-2 7, Addi Claxon 3 1 2-2 11, Violet Edwards 1 1 1-2 6, Eden Smith 0 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 12 5 7-13 44; Rebounds: (O-10, D-16) 26 (Ad. Claxon 9, Edwards 4, Eskridge 3, Campbell 3). Assists: 7 (Av. Claxon 2, Campbell 2, Edwards 2). Steals: 6 (Campbell 2, Ad. Claxon 2). Blocks: 1 (Edwards). Fouls: 17; Fouled out: None.

GREEN 44 (8-1): Sydney Bainer 0 0 0-0 0, Addison Blizzard 0 0 0-0 0, Laney Strickland 4 0 0-3 8, Destiny Alexander 1 0 0-0 2, Elizabeth McBee 0 1 1-2 4, Ava Abrams 1 1 0-0 5, Abbie Knapp 5 1 12-14 25; TOTALS 11 3 13-19 44. Rebounds (O-11, D-27) 38 (Knapp 18, Strickland 10, Abrams 5). Assists: 8 (McBee 3, Knapp 3). Steals: 1 (Knapp). Blocks: 3 (McBee, Abrams, Knapp). Turnovers: 13, Fouls: 9; Fouled out: None.