Westview’s color set outshines Greenfield

Posted: Friday, December 28, 2012 12:00 pm

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
On a night when pink was the primary color, the Blue and Gold got the better of the Orange and Black.
Westview got a cross-county sweep over Greenfield Thursday night — Pink Out Night to honor cancer patient Terry Frazier, wife of Weakley County Schools Superintendent Randy Frazier.
Frazier was presented a pink basketball during halftime of the boys’ game, the ball signed by the girls’ and boys’ teams of both Westview and Greenfield. Frazier was also presented a gift of over $800 by Lady Chargers’ head coach Sean Stephenson for her and her family.
In addition, Lady Charger player Teddy Vincent was presented a plaque between games for scoring 1,000 career points during Westview’s win over Gibson County on Dec. 17.
The Lady Charger defense was a little too much for the Lady Yellowjackets to handle in Westview’s 66-34 win. Westview’s defense caused Greenfield to turn the ball over eight times in the first period and held the Lady ’Jackets to just two baskets.
Greenfield gave West-view a scare in the boys’ game before the Chargers turned the tempo up a notch and wore down the Yellowjackets in a 57-50 win.
WV 66, Greenfield 34 (G)
The Lady Chargers (12-1) brought out the pink basketball for Pink Out Night, but both teams had some problems with the pink basketball in the first period.
It took 3:13 to get the ball to go through the hoop for the first time as both teams combined to miss the first nine shots of the game.
Tiffany Rechis finally got the ball in the basket with a 3-pointer after Westview missed its first seven shots.
“I thought we had a little trouble shooting the pink basketball to start the game, and I do not know if that was the problem or not,” Stephenson said. “But we had a lot of good early looks. It is something that we mentioned in the locker room that, typically, when we do not shoot it well early, it has a negative effect on our defense. Tonight that did not happen.”
With the Lady Chargers struggling on their shooting early, it gave Greenfield (8-4) a prime opportunity to grab a big lead, but Westview’s defense forced the Lady ’Jackets into those eight turnovers with many of them coming in the back court.
“Our defense set the tone early, and being able to pressure full court caused some turnovers,” Stephenson said. “Eventually after the first few minutes, we were able to get the ball to go in.”
Brittany Peoples finally got Greenfield on the board when she pulled up for a jumper inside the paint after Kaley Leyhue hit a 3-pointer to make it 6-2 with 3:15 to play in the period.
Westview led 21-6 at the end of the first period on 7-of-20 shooting.
Westview ended up shooting 44 percent for the game and hit 10 3-pointers with Kendall Leyhue and Rechis hitting three each. Kendall scored nine points in the game.
“I thought Tiffany did a good job of shooting it and I thought Kendall did a good job of shooting it,” the Westview head coach said. “If we can get Kendall to play that way night in and night out we are going to be a lot better team.
Greenfield hit 40 percent of its shots on 12-of-30 shooting with eight of those being 3-pointers. Aubrey Riggs hit five 3-pointers for the Lady ’Jackets.
Rechis led Westview with 18 points, and Teddy Vincent added 15.
Riggs led Greenfield with 15 points off five 3-pointers.
WV 57, Greenfield 50 (B)
The Chargers (12-3) had to turn the tempo up in the fourth period to get past the Yellowjackets (9-3) after Greenfield led the game in each of the first three periods.
It was not a pretty game for either team by any standards, and Westview head coach J.B. Suiter said after the game it is sometimes better to win ugly than to lose pretty.
The Yellowjackets surprised the Chargers by taking an early 8-2 in the first quarter with the help of a 3-pointer by Zac Grooms. Westview came back with an 8-2 run on a pair of 3-pointers by Tyquis Johnson to take a 10-9 lead. Greenfield closed out the period on a pair of late baskets by Miles Cavitt and Tony Robinson to go up 13-10.
Westview’s shooting hurt them for much of the game because they played without the team leader. Antonio Hogard had to sit out the game for violating team rules.
“Team violations prevented some things from happening tonight,” Suiter said. “That is my job to make sure everybody is in line. So, just as much of that falls on me. The bottom is we won as a team tonight.”
The Chargers kept pace with the ’Jackets in the second and third periods before Suiter had his team up the tempo in the fourth period. Westview outscored Greenfield 24-14 while forcing four turnovers. The ’Jackets hit 3-of-10 shots in the final period and missed 5-of-13 from the line.
“I thought Greenfield played great tonight,” Suiter said. “I do not know what it is, but there is something about their grit that kind of slows you down. We were definitely playing their style of ball for about two and a half quarters.
“Then I could kind of see that we upped the tempo and started pushing it. They got tired at the end and missed some free throws. It has happened to us before so it was nice to be able to flip that.”
Jazell Baker led the Chargers with a game-high 22 points.
Hunter Crouse led the Yellowjackets with 16 points. Published in The WCP 12.27.12