Fort Chiswell Lady Pioneers defeat Lady Maroons

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

The Fort Chiswell Lady Pioneers used a strong fourth quarter to defeat the George Wythe Lady Maroons 78-72 in a non-district girls’ basketball game played Friday night at the Fort.
The Fort Chiswell win avenged an early loss the Lady Pioneers suffered on Dec. 5 at George Wythe. In that contest, GW defeated FC 58-53 in a game that wasn’t that close until the final minutes.
In the teams’ last meeting on Friday night, the game was hotly contested throughout with the Lady Maroons leading most of the time.
But the Lady Pioneers stayed close and occasionally took the lead at various times during the first three quarters.
George Wythe drops to 3-6 overall while Fort Chiswell improves to 7-2.
Fort Chiswell Head Coach Kristen Williams said the difference in the two games played against George Wythe was that in the most recent her players kept penetrating the Maroon defense. Also, she said her team, “rebounded a lot better. and we finally made some free throws.”
Indeed, the Lady Pioneers did very well at the line, sinking 28-of-33 (85 percent) while the Lady Maroons were just 11-of-24 (46 percent).
Accuracy at the free throw line was a big factor in Fort Chiswell’s comeback in the fourth quarter. FC converted 19 of its 22 attempts in the fourth quarter to get the win.
Nancy Thacker was six-of-six from the line. Her last four attempts in the final 16 seconds of the game after GW had just pulled to within two points (74-72) and had to foul.
Thacker was 10-of-10 from the line for the game to increase her season total to 28-of-28 from the free throw line. She was one of the five FC starters who all scored in double figures. Kendra Vaughan led the team with 18 points. Paige Quesenberry, Christina Shockley and Thacker all scored 14 apiece, and Carlyta Hall finished with 12. Shockley and Hamm also recorded double-doubles with 10 rebounds apiece.
George Wythe was led in scoring by Lacey Price with 24 points, Ashley Buckhannon with 18, Kari Eubanks with 17 and Chelsea Corvin with 11.
After the Lady Maroons enjoyed a 3-2 lead, the Lady Pioneers came back to go on top 10-3 after Vaughan made a steal and converted two free throws and then followed that with a drive in the lane for two.
GW answered when Buckhannon made a steal and passed to Price inside. Then Buckhannon converted two free throws and followed that with a stickback.
Corvin finished off the first period with two free throws and a bucket to allow the Lady Maroons to enjoy a 15-12 advantage.
George Wythe led the entire second period, except for one time, but FC stayed close and trailed by just 32-31 at halftime.
GW was able to maintain a slight lead for most of the third quarter and took a three-point (52-49) lead into the fourth quarter.
GW led during the opening minutes of the fourth until Shockley connected on four consecutive free throws within 10 seconds of each other, the last two coming at 6:46 to put FC on top 55-54.
Buckhannon took over once again with a jumper and then a steal and a nice spin move under the bucket to put George Wythe up 58-55.
Thacker answered with a layup and Hamm also scored on the next trip to put FC back on top at 59-58.
A free throw apiece by Hamm and Quesenberry made it a three-point FC lead until Buckhannon came up with another steal and layup.
Then Thacker connected on two free throws and Vaughan added another for a 64-60 lead, before Carla Suthers scored for GW.
With less than two minutes, FC expanded its lead to eight points (70-62), but the Lady Maroons kept coming back until they got to within 74-72. That’s when Thacker closed the door with four consecutive free throws.

George Wythe 15 17 20 20 – 72
Fort Chiswell 12 19 18 29 – 78
George Wythe – Kari Eubanks (two 3-pointers) 5 1-2 17, Carla Suthers 1 0-2 2, Chelsea Corvin 4 3-7 11, Ashley Buckhannon (one 3-pointer) 6 3-5 18, Lacey Price 10 4-8 24.
Fort Chiswell – Nancy Thacker 2 10-10 14, Kendra Vaughan (one 3-pointer) 5 5-6 18, Paige Quesenberry (one 3-pointer) 5 1-2 14, Christina Shockley 5 4-5 14, Carlyta Hamm 3 6-8 12.
(T – 1:23)
J.V. game: Fort Chiswell 49, George Wythe 41