Hornets no match for Westview clubs

Posted: Friday, February 1, 2013 12:00 pm

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
It was an emotional senior night sweep for Westview as senior Jasmine Howard stepped out onto the floor and started one last time for the Lady Chargers.
Head coach Sean Stephenson put the injured Howard into the starting lineup with the OK from the South Gibson head coach. Howard stayed on the opposite end of the court when Westview won the opening tip.
Stephenson called a time-out two seconds later, and Howard gingerly walked back to the bench with tears in her eyes and a standing applause from the Westview faithful.
“I checked with the South Gibson coach and the referees ahead of time just to get her name called out there one more time,” Stephenson said. “We certainly miss her on the floor, but she is playing a different role now of cheerleader. She wants to be out there more than anybody else.”
The Lady Chargers gave Howard a senior night gift with an 83-37 District 13AA victory over the Lady Hornets. The No. 5-ranked Lady Chargers are 14-1 in the district and 22-3 overall. South Gibson is 6-8 in district play and 11-9 on the season.
The Charger completed the sweep after a slow start but rebounded in the second half for an 80-46 win over the Hornets. Westview picked up its 20th win on the season and is 20-6 overall with a district record of 12-3. SG falls to 6-14 on the season and 2-13 in the district.
“We played hard for four quarters,” Westview boys’ head coach JB Suiter said. “Everybody who was out there played their tails off. Good things will happen when we do that.”
Westview will celebrate its homecoming on Friday against Gibson County. It will be Westview’s last home game of the regular season. Westview wraps up its season next week with games at Obion Central on Tuesday and at Crockett County on Friday.
Westview 83, SG 37 (G)
South Gibson had dreams about an upset by jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead, but the Lady Chargers went on an 11-point run with Teddy Vincent scoring eight of those and Kaley Leyhue knocking down a 3-pointer.
The Lady Hornets popped in another pair of quick baskets before Westview went on another 11-point run to make it a 22-7 game with under a minute to play.
Westview scored 14 points off of a dozen turnovers in the first period and led 27-10 at the end of one. Westview was up 40-15 at the half and scored 19 points off of 23 SG turnovers.
Vincent scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the first half.
Westview’s defense dominated the Lady Hornets in the first half as SG struggled to get the ball to the inside. The Chargers were constantly batting away passes and knocking the ball out of the Lady Hornets hands.
“We were able to create some offense from our defense,” Stephenson said. “We are not able to go full court with the press with our limited rotation, but in the half-court we were able to get in the passing lanes and get a lot of deflections and get some steals.”
Nine of Westview’s 12 players were able to put points on the scoreboard, and Stephenson was more than happy to have some of his younger players step up.
“I thought our young kids played as well tonight as they have played all year,” the Westview head coach said.
Westview blew the game wide open in the third period by pouring in 31 points. Kendall Leyhue scored nine of her 15 points in the third — including the first five points of the period.
Kaley Leyhue and Tiffany Rechis each scored 10 points in the blowout. Alexus Taylor scored seven, including a 3-pointer. Katie Vincent scored all five of her points in the final period, and Marlena Spivey knocked down one from downtown as did Kaitlyn Harrelson as she scored five points.
Westview 80, SG 46 (B)
A fast-paced first half was also a bit of a sloppy one for both Westview and SG, but the Chargers turned on the burners and matched the girls’ third period scoring with 31 points of their own.
“We have a good rotation going,” Suiter said. “We are playing a lot of kids early, and we know we are in that stretch run. We may have to tighten it up in a couple of weeks during the district tournament. It was an awesome night for our seniors. Every single one of them played outstanding basketball.”
Javier Gordon and Jazell Baker paced the Chargers with a game-high 18 points each. Gordon was honored at halftime of the girls’ game for reaching 1,000 points back on Dec 21 against Union City. The senior has now scored 1,207 points in his high school career.
Antonio Hogard, who was also honored for reaching 1,000 points against Covington on Dec. 12, scored six points. The senior guard has now totaled 1,269 points in his career.
The Chargers were leading 42-32 in the third period when Gordon tipped the ball in on a rebound to kick-start a 15-point run with 4:40 to play in the period.
The Chargers scored seven of those points off of turnovers and scored 24 points from SG turnovers in the game.
Baker scored 11 of his 18 points in the final period, including seven of Westview’s first 10 points in the period. Garrett Sams scored the other three on a 3-pointer.
Westview went on to outscore SG 20-12 in the final stanza. Edgar Olivas ended the scoring for the game on a 3-pointer.
Jordan Davis and Justin Johnson each tossed in eight points for the Chargers.
Tyquis Johnson and Dallas Collins contributed with five points. RJ Scott scored three and Zavion Wright added two. Published in The WCP 1.31.13