Published: January 13, 2007 12:31 am      

G-Girls have double the fun

TAZEWELL, Va. — The “G” Girl did it for Graham.

A Spade nearly buried the Bull-dogs, then the G-Girls wanted a Jones to do it, and finally Chelsea Galliger made the free throws that gave Graham a heart-stopping 69-67 Southwest District double-overtime win over Tazewell Friday.

“This was an emotional night for us — especially me, I guess,” grinned GHS coach Tracy Wyatt, who was a Tazewell assistant last season. “Our job was to box out, deny as many rebounds inside as possible and play smart. We did some of that some of the time and enough to win at the right time.”

Galliger’s freebies with 4 seconds left proved to be the game winners for the G-Girls (6-5, 2-0) who led by as many as 9 points in the second half. Tazewell, despite getting few second shots, was able to first catch and then grab a two-point lead in the final minute of regulation.

However, with the score tied and 10 seconds left, the Lady Dogs twice got tied up going for the win under their own basket.

Allie Hunter and Kelsey Sutherland tied for game scoring honors with 18 apiece. Each had two three-pointers but Hunter was held to 8-of-20 at the stripe.

Spade, one of four G-Girls to foul out, drilled in four treys for Graham and pumped in a team-high 17 points in a valiant effort. At the end, THS had also lost four starters and had no one left on the bench in the second extra period.

The Lady Bulldogs broke on top behind Allie Hunter and Kelsey Sutherland before Lorey Spade went downtown including a trey which pushed the G-Girls ahead 27-20 in the final two minutes of the half.

Hunter’s three-pointer from the keytop, following a bucket by Cara Cecil, beat the halftime buzzer cutting Graham’s lead to three, at 28-25 as Tazewell scored the final five points of the first half.

“We played better defense in the second half and we did a good job coming back to tie the game but we missed chances to win in the first overtime. We made some bad decisions. If we had only made more free throws we would’ve won. Graham played well, and their height kept us from getting several rebounds even at times when we had position,” said THS coach Bill Mitchell.

Courtney Brooks was strong under the boards for Tazewell, while Kayla Roberts and Maggie Jones worked the defensive end underneath for GHS. Sutherland also did good work defensively for the Lady Dogs.

Katelyn Mitchell forced the overtime with two clutch free throws with just 1.1 seconds left to tie the score at 64-all after Beth Mercke had drilled two free shots at the other end for the G-Girls.

Graham plays Grundy Tuesday while Tazewell’s only game next week is at Hurley on Monday.



GRAHAM (6-5, 1-1 SWD)

Hannah Lawrence 4 1-1 9, Beth Mercke 0 2-2 2, Chelsea Galliher 3 5-8 11, Stephanie Smith 4 5-6 13, Kristen Roberts 1 0-0 2, Maggie Jones 0 7-14 7, Lorey Spade 6 1-2 17, Kelli Landreth 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 22-34 67.

TAZEWELL (5-8, 1-2)

Katelyn Mitchell 2 4-6 8, Courtney Brooks 1 7-12 9, Kristi Hale 1 4-5 6, Cara Cecil 2 1-3 5, Tiffany Harris 0 3-4 3, Tracy Muncy 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Sutherland 6 2-3 18, Allie Hunter 4 8-20 18. Totals 16 29-53 67.

Graham.............9 19 15 12 10 5 — 69

Tazewell.........14 11 19 10 10 5 — 67

Three point goals – Graham 4 (Spade 4); Tazewell 4 (Sutherland 2, Hunter 2).

Fouled out – (G) Spade, Jones, Landreth, Lawrence (T) Harris, Brooks, Hunter, Sutherland.