BY BRIAN HAMILTON
SEYMOUR – Northview Academy suffered a 60-53 loss to Austin-East back on February 10 and the Lady Cougars would have the opportunity to extract revenge in the district semifinals on Saturday night.
Northview closed the first half with a 12-0 run and that proved to be just enough to hold off the pesky Lady Roadrunners in the end, as the Lady Cougars had to stave off a late comeback for a 52-48 win.
“All season, we’ve said they are a really good basketball team and they’re going to be right there and they’re going to give themselves a chance to win and obviously they did that the last time that we played them,” Northview Academy coach Brooke Shelley said. “I thought we made some good adjustments and we handled it a lot better today. Some things didn’t go our way, but I thought we still kind of battled through that physicality and we didn’t let certain circumstances in the game rattle us, we just kept playing through it. We showed a little more grit and tenacity tonight than we did two weeks ago, when we played them.”
Natavia Alber (2) puts up a shot while Austin-East’s Aaleyah McDermott (23) defends. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Austin-East got on the board first when Tyrimirrianna Brown hit a jumper to go ahead 2-0. Northview Academy answered on the other end when Mikinna Russell drained a three to put the Lady Cougars in front 3-2.
Karmen Tribble sank a three-pointer to give Austin-East a 5-3 lead with just under five minutes left in the first quarter, but NVA’s Nora Auten answered with a three to make the score 6-5.
The scoring continued to go back and forth in the early going, as Brown scored to put Austin-East in front 7-6, but a jumper by Savannah Clifford would pull the Lady Cougars in front 8-7 with just over two minutes to go. Clifford was fouled on the next NVA possession and sank both free throws to take a 10-7 lead.
A Russell layup, followed by a driving layup by Chloe Henshaw with three seconds left would give Northview Academy a 14-8 lead after one quarter. The Lady Cougars ended the period on an 8-1 run.
The Lady Roadrunners would retake the lead early in the second quarter, when Brown made a pair of free throws to make the score 15-14 and cap a 7-0 Austin-East run.
Natavia Abler answered with a reverse layup on the other end, giving Northview Academy a 16-15 lead with 3:45 left in the first half.
The second quarter was defined by runs, as Austin-East’s 7-0 run was followed by a 12-0 run by Northview Academy, as the Lady Cougars went to halftime with a 26-15 advantage.
Russell extended the run to 14-0 early in the third quarter, hitting a layup to make the score 28-15. A basket by Erreshae Williams would cut the Austin-East deficit to 32-23 with 5:12 left, but Alber answered with a layup to put the Lady Cougars ahead 34-23 with just under five minutes remaining.
By the end of the third quarter, Austin-East had chipped away at the lead and found themselves trailing by just eight at the end of the third quarter, as Brown scored a basket with 12 seconds left to make the score 43-35.
Tyrimirrianna Brown (20) puts up a shot while Northview Academy’s Cheyenne Green (31) defends. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Aaleyah McDermott nailed a three to open the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 43-38, but Northview would answer, as a Kiley Norwood three pushed the lead back to 48-39.
Austin-East was not going away, though. Karmen Tribble sank a three to make the score 48-42 with 3:43 remaining.
Brown was sent to the line for Austin-East and converted 1-of-2 free throw attempts to cut the deficit to 49-45. On the next trip down, Ja’Onna Witt was fouled and made just 1-of-2 from the line, but that free throw made it a one possession game, at 49-46 with 1:03 to go.
Norwood was fouled on a drive to the basket with just 16 seconds left and made both free throws to seemingly ice the game at 51-46. However, Auten fouled Brown while shooting a three-pointer on the other end, putting Austin-East’s star at the line with the clock stopped.
Brown would only make 1-of-3 free throws, which only cut the lead to 51-47, but Witt grabbed the rebound and was fouled before she could go up for the shot. Witt would split the pair of free throws to make the score 51-48 with 10 seconds remaining.
“Make her hit the tough shot,” Shelley said of the foul by Auten. “I mean, she was there to contest. Make her hit a contested three. She was in good position, but as soon as she swiped down, it’s a foul every time and we don’t want them to score with the clock stopped. If she hits the three, at least the clock is still running.”
Austin-East elected to pressure the ball and trap, rather than foul, until Alber was hacked with 0.8 seconds left. It was too little, too late, at that point, however, as the senior sank 1-of-2 free throws and Northview Academy went on to win 52-48.
The Lady Roadrunners’ free throw shooting was a glaring weakness down the stretch, as Austin-East made just 4-of-11 foul shots in the last minute of the game.
Tymirrianna Brown led all scorers with 23, while Ja’Onna Witt added 11 points for the Lady Roadrunners.
Natavia Alber led Northview Academy with 16 points, while Mikinna Russell finished with seven. Chloe Henshaw, Savannah Clifford, Kiley Norwood and Cheyanne Green all added six apiece for the Lady Cougars.
Northview Academy (21-6) will face Cocke County (28-4) for the third time this season in the district championship game at 7:30 p.m. on Monday night. The Lady Cougars will be looking for their first win against the Lady Red this season.
“There’s still some mistakes and stuff to clean up,” Shelley said. “We’ve got room to improve, but I still believe with all my heart that our best basketball is ahead of us.”
Austin-East (15-13) will face Seymour (10-18) in the consolation game at 6 p.m. at Seymour High School.