The Shadow
HOT SPRINGS – When you have a post player that dominates the paint and a press that forces 34 turnovers, it’s a fun game for anyone.
Tuesday night at Charger Gym, all 13 players that dot Keith Lindsay’s girls basketball roster saw significant time as the Lady Chargers remained unbeaten in Pioneer District play with a 70-47 shelling of the Craig County Rockets.
Shonique Gardener was a force to be reckoned with down low, finishing wtih 26 points, while point guard Allison Sharp chipped in 15 to lead the Bath County offense.
“Shonique (Gardener) had a great game tonight in the post and our guards did a great job of getting her the ball,” said Lindsay. “We knew that our press would create turnovers and help us get some easy baskets in transition.
“A lot of girls got to see significant time on the floor and that makes it fun for everyone,” added Lindsay. “It was just an all-around good game.”
The two-hour marathon featured 40 combined fouls and 47 free throws, 30 of which were attempted by the Chargers.
“We got a lot of easy points off of free throws tonight and that is big for our offense,” said Lindsay.
The Rockets kept it close for a quarter, trailing by five after the first eight minutes.
Craig’s Christine Surface completed a three-point play to knot the game at three with 6:32 left in the opening quarter. Jailyn Ford’s dish to Gardener followed by a Gardener stickback increased Bath’s lead to 7-3 and the Chargers led 10-5 following Sharp’s three-point play.
Bath led 11-8 following Surface’s baseline jumper, but Angela Herscher recorded a steal-and-layup with 12 seconds left in the first to give the Chargers a 13-8 lead.
Bath County used a 24-6 second quarter advantage to bust this one open.
Two Sharp free throws with 4:57 remaining in the half pushed the Chargers’ lead to 21-10. Craig County’s Shayla Mayo knocked down both ends of a one-and-one with 3:59 to make the score 23-14, but the Lady Chargers countered with a 14-0 run over the final four minutes.
Gardener’s three-point play started the run and Kayla Lindsay’s foul-line jumper with four seconds remaining capped the run and gave Bath County a 37-14 lead at intermission.
Gardener scored 16 of her game-high 26 in the first half, while Sharp added nine points in the first two quarters. The Chargers forced the Rockets into 24 first half turnovers.
Surface’s baseline jumper opened the third quarter scoring, but the Bath County proceeded to go on an 8-0 run that was capped by Herscher’s 3-point play to increase their lead to 45-16 with 5:53 left in the third.
Bath led 55-25 following Sharp’s dish to Alexa Faraone and the Chargers led 57-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
Gardener’s three-point play – the Chargers’ fourth of the night – increased Bath County’s lead to 62-36 with 6:03 remaining. Craig responded with three straight buckets to cut their deficit to 20, 62-42, but it was a little too late as Bath County improved to 4-0 in Pioneer District play with the 70-47 win.
Surface led the Rockets with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Jordan Persinger finished with 10 points and eight boards.
Bath County (10-3) will be back in action Thursday when they play host to Highland at 6 p.m.
The Little Chargers nearly pulled off a come-from-behind win in the preliminary, but fell 38-37 to the Rockets.
Taylor Grubbs led Bath County with 16 points, while Jessie O’Conner finished with six and Whitney Shifflett chipped in four.
Tabby McCully had three and Kendall Woodzell, Bethany Reese and Makayla Miller had two points each.
