Lady Knights stay hot in conference play
Rosman – ‘It’s always tough to beat an opponent twice in the same season’ is an oft-quoted mantra associated with conference match-ups.
But as the Robbinsville Lady Knights begin to work through the second-half of the 2021 slate, the wins keep piling up.
The Knights (7-1, 6-1) recorded the very definition of a “blowout” win over Rosman (65-25) in the season opener, but had to dig deep to knock off the Lady Tigers in the rematch on Friday.
And dig deep, they did.
The Lady Knights opened a quick 12-2 lead at Rosman, but a retaliatory push by a much-improved Lady Tigers squad forced the Knights to up their game.
In the end, however, Robbinsville triumphed 60-51.
“I told the girls after we beat them the first time that it would be a totally-different game at Rosman. And it was,” said Lady Knights coach Lucas Ford. “They play us as fast as any team I’ve ever seen.”
Padding the early double-digit lead was a quick 6-point burst by Gabby Hooper, which helped open a 20-9 Robbinsville advantage.
“Gabby really stepped up,” Ford touted. “She really sparked us in the first half.”
But thanks to some strong outside shooting, the Tigers (3-4, 3-4) chipped away at the deficit in the second, including back-to-back 3’s from Reagan Chapman that trimmed the Knights’ lead to 22-20. Robbinsville was able to pick up the slack rather quickly, building off some crucial shots by Desta Trammell and strong rebounding work from Halee Anderson to carry a 35-26 lead into the locker room.
Rosman kept the pressure on throughout the third, outscoring the Knights 13-9 in the segment. A long-distance bucket by Maggi Galloway cut Robbinsville’s lead to 50-49 in the fourth, but that was the last time the Lady Tigers would threaten. Foul shots from Trammell – as well as clutch baskets by Yeika Jimenez and Anderson – late in the stanza helped the Knights pull away with the win.
“Desta and Yeika both picked up two fouls early,” Ford noted. “We never could really separate ourselves. As soon as we would go up by 12 or 13, we’d let them cut it down to 6 or 7. Then in the fourth, we let them cut it down to a single-possession game, but then we hit those buckets and made our foul shots down the stretch.
“These girls have had a lot of success from the free-throw line. We’ve had five games in a row where we were above 70 percent (on foul shots) and in the last two minutes of games all year, we have made 86 percent. That’s a testament to their work ethic. You don’t just get that in practice; they’re getting in the gym and getting a lot of shots up outside of practice.”
Wings clipped
Robbinsville – The Lady Knights made-up its final “quarantine” game Jan. 28 at home, hosting and knocking off the Hiwassee Dam Lady Eagles 60-28.
Robbinsville easily maintained the momentum throughout the game, only allowing Hiwassee Dam to score more than six points in a quarter just once – the second, which saw a speedy Lady Eagles defense force turnovers and cash in with transition baskets.
The wide margin gave some of the Lady Knights’ bench the chance to see significant minutes, garnering experience that was not lost on Ford.
“When you’re able to bring kids in off the bench and they give you quality minutes, not only is that improving the team right now; it’s improving the future of your program,” Ford touted. “Dallas Garrett would be my sixth man of the year right now; there’s not been a game we’ve played that she hasn’t came in and given us a spark. She plays great defense and brings great energy. You’ve got kids like Zoie (Shuler), Lina (Pagan), Karcee (Dooley), Aubrie (Wachacha), Kandee (Stewart) and Linsey (Orr), able to come in and give us a few minutes at a time when they need to.
“The cool thing about it is, they understand their role. The Rosman game was very fast-paced, so we were very limited as to who we could play. Those kids understood that and knew their best role was to cheer on their team, because coming up in another game in a week or two, it could be their turn and those other girls will be over there, cheering them on.
“That’s where you want to get as a program and as a team.”