The Lee-Davis girls basketball team utilized solid defense and teamwork to pull ahead of host Hanover then made just enough free throws down the stretch to claim a 46-44 win on Friday night. With the victory the Confederates (9-7, 6-4 Capital) moved within one game of the Hawks (10-7, 7-3) for third place in the district standings.

  Lee-Davis forward Caroline Naumann led all scorers with 13 points while teammate Casey Price added 12. Taylor Woolard scored 12 for the Hawks and Rachel Fehl 10.

  In their previous two matchups against the Hawks, the Confederates left the court with a loss feeling they had outplayed Hanover. The C-feds used those losses as motivation on Friday night.

  Head coach Alvin Puller made sure the girls were ready for an all-out battle.

  “We had a good week of practice, a lot of conditioning to get us ready and I would say it definitely showed today,” Price said. “I think it showed we had fresher legs, they were tired and it definitely tired throughout the game.”

  From the tip-off Lee-Davis looked sharp but once again saw a chance at victory dwindle over the final minutes.

  Holding an eight point lead with four and half minutes to play, the Confederates watched as Hanover echoed previous performances to quickly trim the margin in a single minute. As the teams traded fouls, both squads sent players to the line but Hanover connected on 4-for-4 while Lee-Davis converted only one of a six possible attempts.

  A basket by Hanover’s Sydni Carey was followed by a free throw from Woolard to pull the Hawks within two with 3:13 to play. 

  Naumann connected on a pair of free throws to reopen the margin but a baseline three from Hanover’s Brook Throckmorton made the lead one 41-40 with 1:40 remaining.

  The Confederates recognized the all-too-familiar situation.

  “I kept getting these flashbacks of last year,” Naumann said. “It was just like last year. They started making threes, but we knew we could stop them this year. We just had to get to the corners and prevent them from making threes.”

  Unlike the past, Lee-Davis did not fold. Price connected on a jumper then Trina Gardner stole the ball at midcourt and scored on a layup for a 45-40 lead with :43 seconds to play.

  Still Hanover wasn’t about to throw in the towel. With 21 seconds remaining, Erica Hess drew the Confederate defense on a baseline drive then dished off to Lynnse Caler for a three. The Hawks fouled to stop the clock and Price split free throws for a 46-42 lead with :18 on the clock.

  The Hawks continued to fight. With seven seconds to play, Caler drove the ball up court, drew contact on a drive to the basket and made both free throws to pull Hanover within two.

  Hanover then fouled Gardner with :04 remaining to once again stop the clock. Gardner missed both free throws and Fehl’s deep shot at the buzzer fell short.

  From the beginning Lee-Davis utilized a zone defense to keep Hanover out of the middle and close down the parameter on a team known for their 3-points shooting.

  “We knew that if we got to the corners and did not let them shoot many threes then we could contain them,” Naumann said.

  Even when the Hawks got open looks they could not find the range from deep. “They have a lot of good 3-point shooters and when we left them open they didn’t make shots,” Price said. “But when we played our game we definitely shut them down. It was frustrating for them but good for us.”

  The Hawks did not connect on their first three until 22 seconds into the second half when Fehl was left wide open on the left wing.

  Meanwhile, Price did a good job of slashing to the basket, scoring or finding Naumann. “We definitely worked a lot on that, looking backside, trying to find the open man,” Price said. “Naumann draws the open man.”

  Price scored nine of the first 11 Lee-Davis points and Naumann seven of the first 21.

  “Hats off to Lee-Davis, they played really well tonight,” said Hanover assistant coach Richard Stewart who was filling in for head coach Kevin Brooks. “Tonight we were probably the ones that didn’t play up to where we were.”

  It wasn’t until 2:31 remained in the third before the Hawks began to find their touch from outside with three straight 3-pointers, two from Woolard and one from Amber Norris. Throckmorton appeared to have added a fourth minutes into the final period but the shot was disallowed because it bounced off the rim and into a support cable above the backboard before falling through the basket. 

  Stewart shrugged off the ill-fate that could have changed the two point loss. “The ones that we’d like to have back are the ones that are like three or four feet away that sort of rolled around the rim and bounced off,” he said. “But that’s the game of basketball.”
 
LEE-DAVIS 46, HANOVER 44
LEE-DAVIS (8-7, 4-4 Capital) — Winston 5, Tuck 4, Bryan 0, Price 12, Booth 0, Gardner 8, Naumann 13, Hughes 4. Totals 19 7-20 46.
HANOVER (10-7, 7-3) — Woolard 10, Norris 3, Barrett 3, Throckmorton 6, Caler 8, Fehl 10, Omohundro 0, Lankford 0, Carey 2, Hess 2. Totals 14 10-14 44.
Lee-Davis…......... 11 10 15 10 — 46
Hanover…...........  9   6 15 14 — 44
3-point goals — L: Winston; H: Throckmorton 2, Woolard, Norris, Barrett, Fehl.