CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Northwest girls basketball hosted Clarksville Tuesday to open up District 10-AAA play.
What promised to be a great contest on paper lived up to the hype in action, which saw the Lady Vikings pick up a 58-49 win over the Lady Wildcats.
With now a 3-0 start to the young season, Northwest girls basketball coach Ben Wallace is pleased with his team’s play to this point in the year.
“We have not played any dogs yet,” Wallace said. “Everyone we’ve played has been good. We’ve been able to get through this and get wins over quality teams. We’re building confidence, and you hope if we get to have a February, you hope you’re playing your best ball then. I’m super excited about where we are because I also know how much better we can be than we are right now.”
Key plays
The Lady Vikings controlled the game from its onset, building a 19-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Northwest junior TaMia Scott was a thorn in Clarksville’s side throughout. The guard/forward was able to utilize her size and speed to get to the rim and finish at ease.
“She dominated for us rebounding wise,” said Wallace. “We’re not a very big team. We’re working on her being more consistent as a presence on the floor. Last year, she had some moments where she was great one game and then would just kind of drift through some games. We’re working on her being that dominating presence more and she did that tonight and on Saturday.”
The Lady Wildcats fought back in the second quarter, cutting the Lady Viking lead to single digits at the break.
“We’re going to battle all year long,” said Clarksville girls basketball coach Brian Rush. “You’re never going to be able to doubt the heart of this team. I thought the big story of this game was rebounding. They outrebounded us by a lot and that put us in situations where we had to foul them. That’s something that we’re going to have to work on.”
After starting the second half with two quick scores in the paint, a myriad of poor possessions on the offensive end led to the Wildcats dwindling the deficit to just one point in the third quarter.
Wallace shared what he believe led to the turn of events.
“The seniors that we graduated played huge amounts of minutes in their careers,” Wallace said. “So now, we’re having to replace them with kids who haven’t played at the varsity level at all. We still have our key people, but they weren’t the ones having the fingers pointed at them when they need to step up, but now they are. I think that’s part of it.”
Senior leadership
Senior leadership and experience proved to be big down the stretch for Clarksville, as Erin Lackey and Sydney Weatherford got going on both sides of the floor.
“We’ve got a bunch of seniors on this team that have been around us,” Rush said. “We had girls step in and play well. I thought Erin handled the ball well down the stretch and Syd got some good looks at the hoop.”
Lady Viking guard Emiyah Cobb had a particularly solid second half on both sides of the floor and at the charity stripe to help seal the victory. Wallace believes the sky is the limit for the sophomore.
“She’s a different kind of player, but she’s just as good as TaMia Scott,” Wallace said. “She has a different style about her, but Emiyah can play. She’s quick, she’s a really good defender and a solid rebounder for not being all that tall. I want her to be more aggressive on offense because I think she can have more nights like tonight.”
Clarksville freshman Imari Berry finished tied with Weatherford for a team-high 14 points.
Scott led all scorers with 20 points while Cobb followed with 19 points for the Lady Vikings.