Young Hawks escape the jaws of the Bobcats
Fountain City — Veteran Hardin Valley Academy girls basketball coach Jennifer Galloway knows her team may experience some growing pains during the 2025-26 season.
The Lady Hawks are one of the area’s youngest squads as they don’t have a senior on their roster.
“We have a really young team,” said Galloway, who is the only coach who the Lady Hawks have ever had since the school opened in 2008. “And we’re going to make young-team mistakes.
“What we try to do is make sure that when we make a mistake is try to make sure that it’s not a double mistake.”
The Lady Hawks had some errors in their season opener at Knoxville Central Thursday night, but they overcame their miscues to notch a 41-39 victory over the host Lady Bobcats in the season opener for both teams.
Hardin Valley (1-0) held a 29-23 advantage heading into the fourth quarter and it built a 10-point as it scored the first four points of the final frame. The Lady Hawks appeared poised to cruise to a season-opening win.
But they let the lead get away, and Central would grab the upper hand when Sesha Foster buried a long-range jumper, giving the Lady Bobcats a 34-33 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Free throws by Audree Riehn and Marley Edwards turned the tide back, giving the Lady Hawks a 35-34 lead with 2:12 left to play.
Central wrested the lead away as Abbey Brewer hit a shot and with 1:22 remaining, Teighly Fowler made a reverse lay-up extending the Lady Bobcats’ advantage to 38-35.
Then things really got crazy.
A three-pointer by Edwards, a junior guard, pulled the Lady Hawks even, knotting the game, 38-38, at the 1:02 mark of the final stanza.
After Central failed to score on its next possession, Edwards hit a go-ahead three-pointer, making it 41-38 with 3.5 seconds remaining.
“She really hit two big shots for us,” Galloway said of Edwards.
The contest’s outcome was far as decided as Brewer, who scored a game-high 17 points, was fouled on a three-point attempt with one second to go and was awarded three foul shots. She made only one and the Lady Hawks emerged victorious after a roller-coaster ride of a season opener.
Riehn led HVA with 16 points and Edwards scored 13.
