CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Northeast girls basketball hosted Kenwood Friday in search of back-to-back wins for the first time in over a month. In large part due to the Lady Eagles’ stifling defense, the Lady Knights couldn’t generate enough offense and fell 50-33.
After trailing 14-3 at the end of the first quarter, Kenwood began the second on an 11-0 run to tie the score.
“We turned it up in the beginning and then we seemed to let up instead of continuing to turn it on,” said Northeast girls basketball coach Tracie Mason-Blair. “That’s what got them back in the game.”
The Lady Eagles were then able to hit their next three shots from deep, building a 23-15 lead at the break.
Mason-Blair believed the three-minute stretch to end the first half was key in the grand scheme of things.
“It was very important,” Mason-Blair said. “We took some shots that we probably shouldn’t have as well, but I’m glad we hit the ones that we did.”
The Lady Eagles held Kenwood without a point until a little over a minute left to play in the opening quarter. Northeast made it difficult on Lady Knight shooters by contesting numerous shots early on and late in the ball game.
“I thought we started out great,” Mason-Blair said. “We want the staple of our team to be our defense. We’ve been working on it, working on rotating and all of that. We’re getting better each game, but we still have work to do. If we keep turning on the pressure, create turnovers and score easy layups, that’s what we want to do.”
Krysonie Mitchell came away with multiple blocks in the first half and was able to get to the charity stripe time and time again. Mason-Blair shared how she’s seen Mitchell’s game evolve since the beginning of the year.
“She is definitely improving,” Mason-Blair said. “She’s one of the ones that I’m depending on to get in there and get some rebounds. She did a good job of hitting her free throws tonight and I do like the progress that she is making.”
Cierra Bowser had a rough outing in the first go-round against Kenwood, shooting a lackluster 20 percent from the floor.
This wasn’t the case on Friday, as Bowser relied less on her jump shooting and more on her uncanny ability to finish at the rim.
“Her strongpoint is taking the ball to the basket,” Mason-Blair said of Bowser. “I think the last time we played them she was in foul trouble a little bit and had to sit out. Tonight, she controlled that for the most part and was able to attack more.”
Bowser finished with a game-high 16 points while Mitchell added 12 points and Emoni McCray chipped in seven points for the Lady Eagles.
Reagan Fisher led the Lady Knights with 10 points followed by Nevaeh Tharpe who scored seven points.
Northeast (6-3, District 10-AAA) travels to take on Northwest on Tuesday.
Kenwood (2-6, District 10-AAA) will head to Memphis to compete in the Lausanne MLK Classic on Monday.