Danville girls take wins over Falkville, East Lawrence
The Danville Lady Hawks went 2-0 last week with home wins over Falkville (59-21) and East Lawrence (45-40).
The Lady Hawks used first half runs of 19-0 and 12-0 on their way to a 31-8 halftime lead over Falkville. The Blue Devils turned the ball over 12 times in the opening half, leading to 20 points for Danville.
For the game, Danville forced 20 turnovers. Rebounding also played a part in Danville’s victory as the Lady Hawks outrebounded Falkville 47-30. Danville was especially dominant on the offensive boards, getting 20 offensive rebounds in the first half and 25 for the game.
Individually, Hannah McClung and Celese Sharbutt led Danville with 14 and 13 points respectively. Freshman post player Jesse Oliver led all rebounders with 8. Megan Luker and Sharbutt each had 7 while Lindsey Vinzant, Sydni Shelton and Sloan Lindsey had 5 boards each. Shelton also had 5 assists and 3 blocked shots while McClung had 5 steals.
“We played very well tonight on defense.” Lady Hawk coach Paul Wilson said. “I think our defensive pressure kept Falkville from getting into their offense and it allowed us to play fast, which is what we like to do.”
Against East Lawrence the Lady Hawks had to overcome an early seven point deficit at 8-1 as well as an 8-for-21 free throw shooting to defeat a much improved Lady Eagle team.
The fast start that had served Danville well in its first two games was nonexistent against East Lawrence. The Eagles led the entire first quarter before Danville went on a 7-0 run in the opening minute of the second period to take a 17-14 lead. The Lady Hawks then went stone cold, scoring only 1 point the rest of the half.
Fortunately for Danville, the Eagles also had offensive problems and the Lady Hawks went into the locker room down just four (22-18).
Danville went on a 13-0 run to open the second half and led 36-28 at the end of the third quarter. Early in the fourth it looked as if the Lady Hawks were about to blow East Lawrence out.
Senior Haley Rae Garnett hit a three and followed it up with a nice backdoor move, Sharbutt then took a pass from Shelton and drove for a lay up to give the Lady Hawks their largest lead of the night at 43-28 with four and a half minutes left in the game.
East Lawrence then went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to three (43-40) with 10 seconds left in the game. Danville’s inexperience showed up during this time as the Lady Hawks sent the Eagles to the foul line time after time. Danville also missed several free throws during the same period. After a timeout, the Lady Hawks inbounded the ball and Sharbutt made two free throws to ice the game for Danville. “We really struggled at the line tonight, but Celese stepped up at the end,” said Coach Wilson.
The offensive numbers were not pretty for Danville as the Lady Hawks shot just 25 percent from two-point range. Danville did shoot the three fairly well hitting 7-of-21. East Lawrence outrebounded Danville 47-34. Individually, Sharbutt had 16 points to lead the Lady Hawks while Garnett had 11 and McClung added 9. Sharbutt also led Danville in rebounding with 7. McClung and Lindsey had 5 apiece. McClung had 5 assists and 4 steals. Shelton also had 4 steals for the Lady Hawks who forced 27 East Lawrence turnovers while committing 16 turnovers of their own.
