The felines struggled to find the basket as the Cougars had 35 errant shots which spelled doom and Pendleton County Girls Basketball survived the dismal outing persevering through 24 rim rockers for a 40-23 victory in Baker on Thursday.
“We can’t shoot the ball,” East Hardy Girls Basketball coach Bridget Billmeyer remarked.
“Well, we can shoot the ball, but it doesn’t go in. We got a lot of good shots, but they didn’t fall. We didn’t give up many points tonight. Defense wasn’t the problem, it was not being able to get the ball in the hoop.
Adding to the shooting misery, the Wildcats committed 23 turnovers and East Hardy lost the ball 15 times.
East Hardy (3-12) held the lead for five minutes in the first period, but the Wildcats (7-8) rallied to close the frame with a 4-3 advantage and never relinquished the lead.
East Hardy missed four baskets and the Wildcats missed thrice in the first three minutes of the game with Pendleton County losing the ball three times and the Cougars once.
“I thought we were sloppy at times and other times we executed well. I think it was late in the third quarter we were all over the place, but we pulled it together to finish it,” Pendleton County coach Micah Bailey commented.
East Hardy’s Tera Jones netted the first point of the contest coming at the free throw line at the 5:18 mark.
East Hardy’s Perry Whetzel created a steal, but lost the ball colliding into Pendleton County’s Hannah Koontz going up to the hoop with no foul called.
The Wildcats fumbled the ball out of play on the next possession.
Jones recorded a putback for the Cougars creating a 3-nil lead at the 4:05 mark.
East Hardy’s Chelsea Keller blocked a shot, then Whetzel made a steal and Pendleton County’s Katie Scott garnered a block and took the ball the other way.
Pendleton County lost the ball out of play, then the Cougars missed a basket and Koontz collected the board.
A steal was made by East Hardy’s Jaden Fleshman, but fell down in the process for a walk.
Makenzie Blair swiped the ball for the Cougars and was fouled, then Koontz blocked a shot.
Pendleton County’s Hannah Swigunski made a steal, but the ensuing attempt hit the rim and Blair hauled in the rebound.
Koontz snatched a defensive rebound and scored on a jumper for the Wildcats at the 1:36 mark, 3-2.
Pendleton County took the lead for good with 15 seconds left in the first period on a basket by Mariah Huffman.
Brooke Walls netted two field goals for the Wildcats within the first two minutes of the second period, while East Hardy hit the rim twice with the lead extending to 8-3 at the 6:18 mark.
After a jump ball, both teams committed turnovers before the Wildcats missed a basket and Emma Heishman collected the rebound for East Hardy.
Jaden Fleshman netted a jumper for the Cougars at the 5:04 mark, then Pendleton County lost the ball and Tera Jones was fouled adding two free throws to cut the deficit to 8-7 at 4:39.
Pendleton County hit the rim four times, despite a steal by Walls.
A steal by Pendleton County’s Haley Moats resulted in two free throws at the 3:28 mark.
Walls made a steal and was fouled, then Katee Short stole the ball back for the Cougars and the following shot attempt hit the rim.
Pendleton County’s Swigunski went to the free throw line twice and only made one of four attempts in a span of 38 seconds.
East Hardy committed a turnover, then Huffman executed an old-fashioned three-point play for the Wildcats at the 1:9 mark for a 14-7 advantage.
Swigunski added one more free throw with 43 seconds left in the half.
East Hardy’s Makenzie Blair netted a jumper with 23 seconds to go, but the Wildcats added one more field goal to close the half as Koontz nailed a basket with three seconds on the clock for a 17-9 halftime score.
The misfortune continued to start the second half as the Cougars missed four shots in the opening two minutes.
Pendleton County managed to add a putback by Scott at the 6:44 mark.
After an empty trip on offense, East Hardy’s Chelsea Keller made a steal and was fouled.
Jones drew another foul and netted one of two free throws at the 6:02 mark for the Cougars.
Walls collected the rebound and passed to Scott, who drew a foul and made one of two free throws.
Swigunski blocked a shot and Bandy Bowers made the recovery for the Wildcats, then East Hardy’s Taylor Strawderman stole the ball and scored a layup at the 5:37 mark creating a 20-12 score.
Swigunski score over Strawderman on the next Pendleton County possession and the Cougars responded with a jumper by Jones at the 4:58 mark, 22-14.
The Wildcats added two field goals over the next two minutes as East Hardy missed a shot and committed a turnover setting up one of those scores.
Keller added one free throw for the Cougars at the 2:54 mark, but Pendleton County went to the free throw line moments later as Scott notched two more markers for a 28-15 lead.
Both teams missed several shots apiece in the final couple of minutes of the third period, but Pendleton County garnered a 3-pointer by Bowers with 40 seconds left, 31-15.
Blair grabbed an offensive rebound, then Bowers sole the ball and it was swiped back by Blair throwing an errant shot at the buzzer.
East Hardy’s Chelsea Keller made a steal to begin the fourth period, but Pendleton County’s Mariah Huffman snatched it back and Haley Moats scored at the 7:38 mark.
East Hardy missed four baskets over the next two minutes, while the Wildcats turned the ball over twice and hit the rim two times.
A defensive rebound by Blair led to a long range jumper by Short for the Cougars at the 5:34 mark, 33-17.
Short made rebounds on both ends of the floor and netted a putback at the 5:05 mark.
Pendleton County’s Haley Moats garnered a 3-pointer and a jumper in the last couple minutes of a game, while East Hardy sandwiched those scores with jumpers by Strawderman and Jones for a final score of 40-23.
East Hardy was led but Jones with eight points, while Pendleton County’s Haley Moats netted a game-high nine points.
In JV action, East Hardy defeated the Wildcats 50-41 paced by Taylor Strawderman’s game-high 21 points.
