HASKELL -- After falling 63-13 to Mount Vernon-Enola in the first round of the Bill Gibbs Memorial tournament, the Mountain Pine Lady Red Devils got back on track in Thursday's consolation round matchup with Atkins.
Back and forth for three quarters, Mountain Pine pulled away with a 10-4 run in the fourth quarter to win 37-30 at Haskell Harmony Grove's Daniel Henley Fieldhouse.
"This was huge for us, because we've struggled coming back from losses," Mountain Pine coach Todd Willis said. "To get this early win coming back from a big loss like we had, I think that's going to propel this team forward. I'm interested to see how we turn from here, and take this enthusiasm into the next game."
With Mountain Pine holding a slim 27-26 lead after three quarters, both teams traded shots early in the fourth quarter. Five points by Summer Godwin gave the Lady Red Devils a 32-26 advantage, but Atkins stormed back to pull within 30-32 with 4:15 remaining.
With its lead slipping away, Mountain Pine stepped up its defense and rebounded from a shaky start at the free throw line to put the game away.
After making just three of their first 13 attempts from the charity stripe, the Lady Red Devils converted on six of eight foul shots in the fourth quarter while holding Atkins without a point for the final four minutes to preserve the win.
"It goes back to their work in practice; we work on those free throws when they're dead tired just for situations like that," said Willis. "We were off in the first half, but once we got in the second half, we were focused in and they knocked them down when they had to."
Mountain Pine opened the first quarter on an 8-2 run, but Atkins rebounded to take a 13-12 lead behind nine points from Caitlyn Roberts.
Tanay Tash and Jatavia Smith each scored three points in the second quarter as the Lady Red Devils took a 21-19 lead into halftime. After surrendering 13 points in the first quarter, Mountain Pine allowed just six points in the second and seven points in the third.
"We started mixing things up with our defense, and it made them off balance," Willis said. "We knew they wanted to get the ball inside, and we tried to design our defense around keeping the ball out of the middle. I think we did a good job of that tonight."
The Red Devils stretched their lead to 25-19 early in the third, but Atkins wouldn't go down without a fight. A 3-pointer by Regan Roberts gave Atkins a 26-25 advantage before Godwin took over.
The senior closed the third quarter with a go-ahead layup and opened the fourth with five straight points as Mountain Pine regained a lead that it wouldn't relinquish.
Godwin led all scorers with 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
"She's the hardest working girl I've ever been around," said Willis. "She goes at it from the time the ball goes up until the final whistle blows. She knows when the game is on the line, she has to take over. She's done it time and time again, and we'll lean on her the whole year like that."
Smith finished with six points, while Kalariya McDaniel added four points and Ali Meeks and Tash each scored three. Caitlyn Roberts paced Atkins with 14 points.
Improving to 2-2 on the season, the Lady Red Devils open conference play tonight at Poyen.
"It's like a clean slate for us; we start from scratch with a conference game," Willis said. "This is kind of like preseason for us, and it was a great way to close it out with a hard fought victory. If we can build on this, it will be huge for us once we get into the thick of our conference schedule."
Sports on 12/01/2017