Lady Eagles rally too late, fall to Lorena
Posted On: Friday, Dec. 11 2009 04:44 AM
By Kevin Posival
Killeen Daily HeraldSALADO – The Salado Lady Eagles struggled as Hadley Joiner struggled through the first three quarters.
Joiner was held scoreless until the fourth quarter, but her eight points in the period, coupled with Lorena's dismal free throw shooting, nearly pushed Salado over Lorean espite trailing 32-21 at the start.
But, Salado's 16 first-half turnovers and five-point third quarter was too much to overcome as the Lady Eagles dropped their pool play opener 34-30 to Lorena on the first day of the Coach Smith Memorial Tournament.
Salado had as many turnovers in the first half as it did points, but Lorena hit just two of its 12 free throws, including one of nine in the second half to keep the Lady Eagles (7-4) within range once Joiner started connecting.
The junior's first score was a layup with 5:46 left in the game and she followed that with a three-pointer more than a minute later as the Lady Leopards (9-1) started working the clock for long stretches beginning in the fourth quarter.
Joiner's second three with 2:04 left were the last points by either team as Lorena missed on all four free throw attempts in the final 1:02.
"When you have a scorer like Hadley that's averaging 20 points a game, I think, you come to expect that," said Salado coach Jeanette McKinney. "I think the other kids expect that from her and she's OK with that, she's a competitor. We just were not on today. We didn't have much depth ... and it's tough when they don't get many break and Lorena's bringing in four at a time and they just wore us down."
Carling Urben scored a game-high 11 points for the Lady Eagles while the Lady Leopards were led by Christen Batson's nine points, eight of which came in the first half when Lorena built a 13-7 lead after the first quarter and 24-16 lead at halftime.
Lorena scored nine unanswered to start the game while Salado opened with seven turnovers and just two shots on their first eight possessions.
"Lorena was a better team today," McKinney said. "As much as we struggled, we were still right there. We beat ourselves. No discredit to them, they are a very, very strong team."
Salado plays Merkel tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Contact Kevin Posival at
kposival@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7562.