CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Northeast Lady Eagles hosted the Northwest Vikings for their senior night and a cross-town rivalry. The Vikings built a lead early and led from start to finish, earning a 68-28 victory behind Ja’laysia Hunt dropping 18 points for Northwest.
The Vikings defense was active early, which led to 18 forced turnovers on the night. Northwest capitalized on their transition offense throughout the game, and got stops to build a 35-10 lead going into the half. Northwest High head coach Ben Wallace was very pleased with what he saw from his squad.
“We played really well, particularly we shared the ball great,” said Wallace. “We shot the ball pretty decent, which is something we don’t always do. It’s critical to peak at the right time, and we’re playing our best ball.”
The Eagles were able to get their offense going a little more in the second half, but couldn’t crawl out of the early hole, and Northwest earned a victory against their inner-city foe. For Northeast head coach Tracie Mason-Blair and her squad, they’ve got one more game Friday against Dickson County, then have a date with Springfield in the District 13-4A play in game.
“You can’t beat many teams turning the ball over that much, so we have to be better,” said Mason-Blair. “I’ve told them, during this time of year, we just have to survive and advance. When you lose your done, but we still have life when it comes to the postseason.”
As for the Lady Vikings, they’ll wrap up their regular season at Rossview, but they’ll avoid the play in as the three seed and will matchup with the number two seed, Henry County, on Thursday in the District 14-4A semifinal.
“This was a good win to get for momentum,” said Wallace. “We came in tonight, took care of business, and we just need to continue to play well. The wins and losses don’t matter till tournament time, and we feel like we can compete with anybody.”