Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Ava Shook wears the medal she was awarded for making the Battle of the States All-Tournament Team.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Hayesville High School has a new girls basketball team.
The uniform numbers and faces are the same, but the Lady Yellow Jackets, 8-4, who came within a whisker of going 3-0 in last week’s Battle of the States Basketball Tournament are no searching for their identity.
The somewhat timid, turnover prone, shaky shooting gals are no more; they’ve been replaced by aggressive, savvy, sure-shooting dynamos.
That was obvious as Hayesville shocked Franklin, 62-60, Saturday, smashed Polk County, 31-17, on Friday and scared Towns County before falling, 43-39, on Thursday.
In case you missed it, the makeover looks like this:
• The hot-potato response to full-court pressing has been replaced by Ava Shook dribbling pedal-to-medal across the halfcourt line.
• Breanna Abrams and Emma Ashe are setting up teammates with sharp passes, making crisp cuts through the lane, playing strong help defense and putting up good shots.
• Mallory Peck acts like she owns the boards, is showing Ginger Rogers footwork on the block, scoring with both hands on high-percentage shots and getting physical on defense.
• Brooke Graves is poised in the pivot and getting good shots.
• Bryleigh Krieger is knocking down shots and bothersome opponents.
• Briley Clampitt has been a whirlwind all season, but she’s become more effective and efficient.
• Jasmine Brooks is moving the ball and providing back court scoring off the bench with sensible shot selection.
Add in the consistent play of do-it-all leading scoring Ava Shook, who’s been filling up all the columns of the stat sheet since day one and you have a team that can play with anybody.
That’s exactly what the Lady Jackets did at Towns County High last week.
Hayesville 62, Franklin, 60
Heart and hustle enabled the Hayesville girls to stun Franklin in the final day of the tournament Saturday.
The Lady Jackets led throughout and held a 9-point lead before Franklin stormed back to knot the score at 55-55 with 3:30 remaining.
Ashe answered by grabbing a miss and depositing the ball to put the Lady Jackets up 57-55.
Ashe’s heads-up rebound was one of a dozen hustle plays by the super sophomore, who never stopped moving, chasing down loose balls and missed shots, throwing smart passes into the post, fearlessly thundering into the lane, handling the ball with poise when opponents tried to trap her and knocking the ball away from dribbling Panthers.
Ashe was a whirlwind in the crucial fourth quarter, stealing the ball twice in the first minute, grabbing a rebound and scoring the ball to break a 55-all tie at 2:48, busting a three-pointer from the corner that broke a 57-all tie with 1:10 remaining and helping Shook break the press with :20 left.
A Franklin steal and a Hayesville foul with just under a minute remaining gave the Panthers a chance to tie, but the first charity toss missed, Shook promptly zipped up court and Mallory Peck powered home a bucket.
Franklin scored with :20 on the clock to cut the lead to 62-60, but Hayesville hung on by breaking full-court pressure.
Ashe scored 10 points, was 2-for-2 from the field, canned a pair of three-pointers, played superb help defense, handled the ball with skill, and had five rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Ashe was a catalyst, but her teammates also played inspired ball.
Shook scored 17 points on 3-of-6 from the field and 3-of-7 from downtown, dished six assists, made three steals, grabbed three rebounds and repeatedly dived onto the floor to capture the ball. To no one’s surprise, Shook was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Peck also brought her A game by muscling her way to the low block, playing smart, aggressive defense, scoring 16 points and clearing seven boards.
Abrams hustled for six rebounds and 4 points and handled the ball adeptly.
Krieger was simply superb starting in place of Brooke Graves, who was attending a family wedding. Special K hit on 3-of-6, scored 10 points and pulled down five rebounds.
Clampitt swished a huge three-pointer with :02 remaining in the first quarter that gave Hayesville an 11-8 advantage, tallied 5 points and snared three rebounds. Late in the second act, she grabbed a missed three and scored the ball to up the lead to 22-19.
Brooks handled the ball well and collected four caroms.
Hayesville 31, Polk County 17
Peck dominated at both ends, snaring 15 rebounds, 10 on the defensive end, and scoring 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting in the second round of the Battle of the States tourney Friday afternoon.
Peck was brilliant as her teammates repeatedly delivered her the ball. She ate up Polk County with an assortment of spin moves, head fakes and drop steps around the basket.
Polk County had no answer for Mighty Mallory, especially during the third period when Peck scored on feeds from Abrams and Shook in the span of a minute and cleared three rebounds during the next minute-and-a-half.
That burst of activity came as Hayesville expanded a 20-13 halftime lead to 28-13.
Shook also had a hot hand. She connected on 4-of-7 from the field, 1-of-2 from distance and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe for 11 points. She also had a team-high three steals.
Abrams contributed six rebounds. Krieger grabbed four boards off the bench.
Towns County 43, Hayesville 39
The Lady Jackets pulled within 1 point twice in the final quarter in Thursday’s opening round game against Towns County, but just couldn’t get over the hump.
Ashe’s 3-pointer off a Peck rebound with 5:10 on the clock cut the host’s lead to 36-35, but Hayesville couldn’t capitalize on five consecutive missed shots by Towns County.
The Lady Jackets’ attempt to climb into the drivers seat was felled by a turnover, a shot in which the ball got stuck on the rim support and a missed three-pointer over the next two minutes.
Yet Hayesville still had a chance.
Shook’s defensive rebound with 2:59 remaining and subsequent fast break resulted in a prolonged, but frustrating possession in which Hayesville missed four shots before Towns County finally cleared a rebound, advanced the ball and scored on a free throw for a 37-35 advantage.
The sequence was typical of the shooting woes Hayesville experienced most of the game.
A Hayesville turnover led to a Towns three-pointer and a 40-35 lead with just 1:14.
The Lady Jackets weren’t finished. Ashe promptly found Shook, who drained a long ball to trim the lead to 40-38.
Following a Towns turnover and a Shook free throw that cut the gap to 40-39, the hosts scored on a three-pointer with :18 on the clock. Hayesville missed two shots in the final :08.
For the most part the Lady Jackets took high-percentage shots, but only made 15-of-59 from the field, 5-of-27 from behind the arch and 4-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Ashe led Hayesville’s balanced attack with 11 points. She also had five rebounds and three assists.
Shook had 9 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and just one turnover. Peck tallied 8 points and collected six rebounds. Abrams added 5 points, five rebounds and three assists. Brooks scored 4, hit 2-of-2 freebies and collected three rebounds and two steals. Clampitt tallied 2 points and four boards. Graves had four rebounds and a pair of steals.
Hayesville biggest lead came on a 6-0 run in the final 1:31 of the first quarter when Clampitt deposited a pass from Graves, Brooks aced two free throws, and Shook stole the ball and took it all the way to the bank.
Towns County knotted the score at 17-all midway through the second period, went up 22-17 by the intermission and never trailed again.