Defense delivers for Lady Admirals
Some inclement winter weather played havoc with the Farragut High School girls basketball team last week.
But the Lady Admirals would persevere and survive a couple of District 4-4A scares last week.
The week started on a cold note as Knox County Schools were closed due to inclement weather on Jan. 26-27, forcing a league contest between Lenoir City and Farragut
had to be rescheduled for Thursday.
Further complicating things for the Lady Admirals was that they weren’t able to practice when classes were canceled.
Farragut, however, used its defense to pull out a 35-31 victory over the Lady Panthers Thursday night at the Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium, but the game was full of tense moments for the Lady Admirals, who had trouble scoring all night.
The contest’s outcome wasn’t decided until center Trinity Curry converted a pair of free throws to make the score 35-30 with 7.6 seconds remaining.
“This is what happens when you don’t get to practice,” Farragut coach Jason Mayfield said. “We were rusty, but we were able to play good enough defense to win the game.
“It was a struggle but we were able to gut one out.”
Curry was Farragut’s top scorer as she finished the game with 12 points. She also pulled down some clutch rebounds down the stretch to help propel her team into the win column.
“Trinity did a great job for us,” Mayfield said.
KJ McNealy chipped in with eight points for the Lady Panthers, who led, 9-6, at the end of the opening quarter and held a slim 15-14 advantage at halftime.
Farragut, however, grabbed the upper hand by outscoring the Lady Panthers, 12-8, in the third stanza and opening a 26-23 advantage. The Lady Ads never trailed in the final frame.
Farragut (16-8 overall, 9-1 in the district) edged Rhea County, 62-60, on Friday in Evensville.
McNealy scored 26 points against the Lady Eagles. Curry added 17 and Reagan Sheridan finished with seven.
