Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Aaliyah Jackson, No. 32, dials three long-distance for Hayesville during the Lady Jackets’ runaway win over Swain County.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
The three-pointer hasn’t been very friendly to Hayesville’s varsity girls this season until last Monday.
The Lady Yellow Jackets acted as if they had invented the arch 19’ 9” from the basket during an eight-minute bombing raid that pumpkin chunked Hayesville past the Lady Maroon Devils, 64-39.
The nuclear reaction from downtown began after Hayesville Coach Tammy Dills called timeout with the score knotted at 9 and 2:52 on the first-quarter clock. The topic of that sideline confab quickly became apparent. Micalynn McClure nailed a three just :19 later and :30 later half, Ava Shook took a pass from “Slick Mic” and busted another
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triple to produce a 15-9 lead.
Swain fought back and closed the gap to 16-15 by the first-quarter stop but Dills ordered another bombing raid that turned the Maroons blue.
Shook broke out the TnT by opening the second quarter with a home-run from the corner on a dime from Briley Clampitt. After the teams traded turnovers and misses, Shook dropped another bomb from distance on an underhand shovel from Lucy Trout, from the baseline of all places. Trout got in on the fun with three a minute-and-a-half later that gave Hayesville a 27-16 lead that prompted Swain to call timeout with 2:43 left in the half.
Hayesville didn’t need the long ball in the second half. The Lady Jackets only shot a half dozen threes (they made a pair) in the final two quarters as they pitchforked the Devils with swarming defense and crisp ball movement that led to points from 15 feet or closer.
The lopsided victory was probably Hayesville’s best showing of year. The team committed just 11 turnovers, 3 in the final two minutes when Dills played the bench and made 17-of-31 from the field. Ten Lady Jackets scored and seven shot .500 or better from two-point range.
Shook led the charge with 6 rebounds and 15 points on 4-of-10 three-point shooting.
Trout came off the bench to score 10 points with 2-of-3 firing from the field to go with team highs in assists with three and three steals.
McClure was a perfect 2-of-2 from the field, grabbed three rebounds and had three assists and sevens points. Ava Moore made 3-of-5 shots for six points and tallied three rebounds and two assists without committing an error. Jasmine Brooks contributed six points, four points, three assists and two steals.
Danielle Anderson shot 2-of-3 from both the field and line, snatched three boards and tallied six points. Caroline Wade was again a whirlwind, scoring six points on 2-of-4 from the field and 2-2 from the charity stripe and pulling down three rebounds in less than 8 minutes of action. Kayla Brown corralled three rebounds. Aaliyah Jackson nailed her lone three-point try. Olivia Free made her only shot, a two-pointer just inside the three-point arch.
Score by quarters
Hayesville: 16-32-43-64
Swain Co.: 15-19-30-39