By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
The Lady Yellow Jackets showered their mettle by stomping the pedal to the metal with an impressive late rally in a 45-32 loss to Swain in the Smoky Mountain Conference Tournament at Andrews on Thursday.
The stupendous surge began with the young Lady Jackets trailing 40-24 and looking hopeless with half of the last quarter remaining. Hayesville didn't quit. Instead, the girls played perhaps the most inspired two minutes of their season.
Not surprisingly, Breanna "Atom Bomb" Abrams detonated the first salvo with a driving lay-up through traffic to cut the score to 40-26. No big deal to Swain.
Then Abrams fired another round by grabbing a defensive rebound. On the other end, the girls bobbed, weaved and cut, until, viola, Emma Ashe slipped behind the three-point line, received the ball and rammed home a three-pointer, 40-29. Still no panic on the Swain sideline.
Ashe stole the ball with 2:23 on the clock. She promptly slipped the rock to Lila Roberts, who bucketed the ball. 40-31. Hayesville finally had Swain's attention.
Seven points in 1:26 will have that affect. Time out Maroon Devils.
Swain promptly got a much needed 3 points on a bucket and foul after the sideline chat. That pretty much ended Hayesville's hopes of a miracle finish.
That's not the point.
For three quarters, Hayesville struggled to put the ball in the basket, from the field and the free throw line, but the girls never quit. They came to play. That was obvious when Roberts, yes Roberts blocked, yes blocked two shots, yes two in the first period.
Those weren't the only big-effort plays. Ashe wrestled two rebounds away through sheer desire, and Abrams grabbed an offensive rebound while sprawled on the floor.
Unfortunately, the shots weren't falling, 11 of 26 shooting from the charity stripe derailed the best intentions, but Hayesville not only showed hustle, the girls only made 12 turnovers.
If effort was the only measure of success, this one would have been a Hayesville win. Instead, frustration prevailed. The Lady Jackets had opportunities, but didn't capitalize often enough. For instance, Swain missed six free throws in the final period. Unfortunately, Hayesville didn't turn any of those misses into points.
The Lady Jackets played Swain even in the first quarter and only trailed 7-4 after the first because Briley Clampitt swished a beautiful jump shot with :02 left.
Four missed free throws in the second quarter kept Hayesville from cutting into the lead and the Yellow Jackets were behind 16-10 at the intermission.
Hayesville went 0 of 4 from the line in the third act as Swain broke the game open by outscoring the Black and Gold, 17-4.
Ava Shook had the best shooting night, 3 of 7 from the field and 4 of 6 from the line, leading the team with 10 points, but also clearing four rebounds and giving out two assists.
Roberts had 6 points and team best six rebounds.
Ashe had 4 points and four rebounds, Bryleigh Krieger posted 6 points and five rebounds and Brooke Graves and Abrams had 2 points and two boards apiece. Clampitt was 1 of 2 shooting.
The Lady Yellow Jackets record is 8-16.