Lady Wildcats keep game close in final seconds, but Fulton takes 30-26 win

 

Note: This story was last updated at 3 a.m.

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats pulled within two points, 28-26, with 10 seconds to go, but Fulton emerged with a 30-26 win at Wildcat Arena on Saturday.

It was the last regular-season game of the year for Oak Ridge (22-4, 16-0 District 3-AAA). The Lady Wildcats enter next week’s district tournament as the top seed and are guaranteed a spot in the Region 2 tournament. The Lady Wildcats finished the regular season undefeated in District 3-AAA after a 47-32 win at Campbell County on Friday.

This year’s game between Oak Ridge and Fulton was closer than last year’s, when the Lady Wildcats fell to the Lady Falcons 71-34.

The taller Fulton team (11-8, 4-4 District 3-AA) was led on Saturday by junior guard/post Keke McKinney, who had a game-high 16-points in the low-scoring game in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Wildcat Arena. Freshman guard Lay Lay Manning, who was fouled four times, made three free throws and two baskets for seven points total.

Oak Ridge didn’t have any players scoring in double digits and was limited to seven points in the first half. Two Lady Wildcats who are often top scorers, freshman point guard Jada Guinn and sophomore post Mykia Dowdell, were held to six points total. Guinn scored two baskets in the third quarter, and Dowdell made two free throws. Junior guard Courtney Ellison was held scoreless throughout the game.

The top scorer for Oak Ridge on Saturday was sophomore guard Desiree Bates with eight points. Sophomore guard Jaymi Golden had seven.

Bates and Golden combined to give Oak Ridge a spark with less than a minute to play. Bates hit a free throw to narrow the lead to 26-20 with about 50 seconds left. Then, Golden made a three-point shot to cut the Fulton lead to three, 26-23, with about 19 seconds remaining.

After McKinney made two free throws to put Fulton back up by five, 28-23, Bates hit a three-point shot to narrow the gap to two, 28-26, with 10 seconds left.

But McKinney hit two more free throws after an intentional Oak Ridge foul to end the game at 30-26 in favor of Fulton.

“We didn’t lose the game defensively,” Lady Wildcats Coach Paige Green said. “We lost the game offensively.”

After Fulton blocked a few Oak Ridge shots earlier in the game, the Lady Wildcats played side-to-side basketball and stopped attacking, Green said. Also, the girls lost some valuable time at the end of the game by not fouling sooner.

She acknowledged Fulton’s size, but “we didn’t do anything to help ourselves,” Green said.

The Lady Wildcats have a week off and will start district tournament play on Saturday, February 20, at Anderson County High School.

The Wildcats also finished the regular season undefeated in District 3-AAA. It’s the first time both the boys and girls teams have been undefeated in the district during the regular season.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

 

 

 

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