Veterans girls fall behind in third quarter of Hypesouth Hardwood Invitational against Spencer

MACON — The opener of Saturday’s Hypesouth Hardwood Invitational between Veterans and Spencer was a close battle until the Greenwave broke through in the third quarter to eventually take the game 41-30.

Both programs are fielding a young team this year — Spencer only has six upperclassmen in total (one senior) while the Lady Warhawks lost four starters and five players over the offseason.

It was clear in the early play and an 18-18 halftime score. Turnovers, undisciplined defense and a mix of early season mistakes and inexperience made for a rock fight.

Spencer blitzed Veterans early and jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Lady ‘Hawks were able to settle in and get into some half court sets.

They scored seven unanswered by working the ball around and getting post touches, though the Greenwave were physical inside and some of the lighter Veterans bigs had trouble getting through the contact.

Lead guard Francesca Jones sat for a long period after the first. To start the second quarter head coach Tracy Fendley went with a one guard lineup featuring either Jordyn Thomas or Bethany Shepherd who each finished with four points.

The lineup originally consisted of Ayonna Scott, Camila Vicioso, Brea Shannon, Christine Woolfolk and Thomas.

Theoretically this lineup’s strength would be interior defense and rebounding, which was a problem in the first quarter. By the end of the five-ish minute stretch this lineup and other variations of it were on the floor it was a slight net “negative” at -3 with Veterans down 15-11.

One of the key differences between these kind of lineups the Lady ‘Hawks ran with Jones off of the floor is the ball moved significantly more.

It was overall bad for ball security considering Jones is clearly their best ball handler, but the offense got more varied looks in the second and third quarters when she sat.

Veterans missed three shots on one possession just under four minutes in the third and Spencer scored on the other end to tie their largest lead of the day at 28-23.

From there the Lady ‘Hawks were outscored 10-2 as the Greenwave aggressively got out on fast breaks off of rebounds and turnovers.

They had a minimum of one to two leakers on any given play, and as soon as they had possession of the ball they sprinted to the other end and got behind the defense.

Spencer took a 38-25 lead into the fourth quarter before finishing out the game.

UP NEXT

Veterans has one more game left in November, a 2 p.m. tip off at home against West Forsyth on Nov. 23.

Spencer will travel to Marion County on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m.