Howard’s pain mutes Westview celebration

Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 12:00 pm

Westview girls remained unbeaten in District 13AA by winning at Ripley, but that win may turn out to be a costly one for the Lady Chargers.
Senior forward Jasmine Howard could be out for the remainder of the season after she injured her right knee during the Lady Chargers’ 66-15 win.
Head coach Sean Stephenson said all indications are pointing to a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Stephenson said the X-rays came back negative with nothing broken. However, X-rays do show torn ligaments. Howard was scheduled to have an MRI on her damaged knee on Monday morning.
The injury happened midway through the second period.
“We threw the ball up ahead to her and she went up to try to catch it and just landed on her leg,” Stephenson said. “The knee went in, and I know it did not look good when it happened.”
Stephenson said Howard will be hard to replace. She was averaging 10 points and seven rebounds per game this season.
In other girls’ action, it was Gleason beating Clarksburg 53-29. The Lady Bulldogs are one of two teams with one loss in District 13A at 8-1 and 14-4 overall. Huntingdon is the other one-loss team with a 9-1 league record.
The Lady Bulldogs are at West Carroll tonight. Gleason got a 58-37 on Dec. 4 in the first meeting between the two teams.
In boys’ action, it was Westview getting an 81-72 win over Ripley led by Antonio Hogard’s 27 points.
Gleason came within an eyelash of picking up its second win of the season but fell to Clarksburg 42-41. Gleason has now lost eight straight games.
GIRLS
WV 66, Ripley 15
The Lady Chargers had the game won after the first period with Westview taking a commanding 25-0 lead. Stephenson is probably wishing the game had been called after the first period to avoid the knee injury to Howard.
Stephenson must now find someone to step up and take Howard’s place in the lineup and said he may have to use a combination of players.
“We are just going to have to find a way to replace that toughness,” Stephenson said. “I do not know if we can. We will just have to try by committee. I will be very surprised if she plays again this season.”
The win keeps Westview on top in District 13AA with a perfect 10-0 record and an 18-2 overall mark.
Teddy Vincent scored a game-high 17 points for the Lady Chargers with Tiffany Rechis right behind her with 16 points.
Kayla Leyhue scored eight points followed by Kendall Leyhue with six and Katelyn Luthi with five.
The Lady Chargers led 43-6 at the break and 59-9 after three periods of play.
BOYS
WV 81, Ripley 72
The Chargers kept Ripley from scoring just enough in the first and fourth periods to squeak out a win on the road Friday night.
Westview outscored Ripley 22-19 in the first period and 19-15 in the final period. That was just enough of a margin for the Chargers to pick up their eighth win in the district.
Westview also bettered Ripley in the middle quarters, 21-20 in the second and 19-18 in the third.
Javier Gordon scored 19 points for the Chargers, followed by Jordan Davis with 13 and Jazell Baker with 10.
The Chargers are now 8-2 in the district and 16-5 overall. Both Chargers squads will be at Dyersburg tonight in another District 13AA contest.
C’burg 42, Gleason 41
Gleason did something that the Bulldogs have not be accustomed to doing this season — go into the halftime break with a nice lead.
Gleason led 22-14 at the break only to see Clarksburg come back and outscore the Bulldogs 19-9 in the third period to tie the game at 31-all.
Clarksburg was then able to hold off the Bulldogs in the final period by outscoring Gleason 11-10.
Clarksburg went 17-of-26 at the line for game, while the Bulldogs went to line for 18 attempts, hitting 11.
Austin Perry continued to be the go-to guy for Gleason, posting game-highs in points with 22 and rebounds with 15.
Alex Hahn scored nine points for the Bulldogs with Keaton Collins adding seven and Dylan Reynolds scoring two.
The Bulldogs are now 1-8 in the district and 1-17 overall.

Published in The Press 1.15.13