PITTSBORO — Six-foot freshman TeKeyah Bland poured in a career-high 22 points, including seven straight in the second quarter to give Northwood the lead for good, while the league-leading Lady Chargers responded to every Vance County challenge for three periods before outscoring the Lady Vipers 20-5 in the final frame to post a 56-39 Big Eight 3A Conference victory Tuesday night in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
Northwood raised its league record to 6-1 and climbed to 12-5 for the season, while Vance County fell to 3-2 in the conference and 9-6 overall.
McKenna Snively chipped in 10 points for the Lady Chargers, who connected on 43% (21-of-49) of their field goal attempts while holding a 25-21 edge in rebounds.
Yumyah Hargrove and Leslie Trejo tallied 10 points each for the Lady Vipers, who shot 27% (12-of-45) from the floor, while both teams turned the ball over 13 times.
“I thought after TeKeyah gave us the advantage early in the second quarter we kept the momentum the rest of the evening, and every time Vance County got close we had an answer,” remarked Northwood coach Cameron Vernon. “We had good ball movement and got the shots we wanted, and we hustled to get loose balls that sparked our transition game. I also like the way we kept our composure down the stretch and never really let Vance County get its running game going.”
Lady Vipers’ coach Sheila Kearney stated she could sum up the difference in one word – fatigue.
“We got tired in the last period but continued taking outside shots without our legs,” said Kearney. “While we had some good looks at the basket, we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole. We didn’t always look for high-percentage shots every time we got close, while we didn’t execute on defense and get stops at the other end. Their big girl (Bland) moves well without the ball and is strong around the rim both scoring and rebounding, and her effort on the boards often kept us to one shot.”
Bland finished the night grabbing a game-high nine caroms, including eight on the defensive glass.
Despite Vance County sinking only three-of-15 attempts from the floor in the initial stanza, the teams were tied at 7-all with a minute-and-a-half to go in the opening period prior to Rae McClarty’s backcourt steal and layup with 48 seconds left in the frame that gave the Lady Chargers a two-point advantage after one quarter.
Following Shymia Banks’ layup at the start of the second period that pulled the Lady Vipers even for the last time, Bland registered seven consecutive points on a free throw, a lane put-back, a layup and two more foul shots, to boost Northwood’s lead to 16-9 with 5:11 remaining in the second quarter before Trejo’s three-pointer from the left wing and jumper from the right side narrowed the gap to two with 2:51 to go in the first half.
But the Lady Chargers managed to maintain a two-to-four point advantage over the remainder of the stanza to carry a 24-22 lead into intermission.
After Trejo’s jumper off the right baseline drew the visitors from Henderson within 31-30 with 5:01 remaining in the third period, Northwood replied with Caitlin Bailey’s layup, a Chandler Adams charity toss and Snively’s wide open layup to forge a six-point advantage with 3:38 left in the frame prior to a pair of Tymiah Wimbush foul shots and Nashiya Branch’s floater in the lane that once again drew Vance County within two entering the last eight minutes.
But with Bland and Snively combining for nine points, the Lady Chargers went on a 14-2 run over the first six minutes of the fourth quarter to put the contest away, and Bailey’s jumper off the right baseline at the horn accounted for the final spread while giving Northwood its biggest lead of the night.