Lady Flames win the Johnson City tourney

JOHNSON CITY — In a gut-check game, the Faith Academy girls basketball team found a way to win the Johnson City Tournament.

This time the Lady Flames beat Saint Mary’s Hall, 50-44, Dec. 7 in the Championship.

“We did not have a thing going the whole game,” head coach Jerry English said. “We really did want to win.”

Saint Mary’s was 10-1 on the season.

“They have a very deep team,” he said. “One girl who hurt us the most busted threes, one over 30 feet. I was really impressed with them. They’re coached by two young men who made great adjustments.”

Faith led, 17-16, at halftime. That was because Saint Mary’s hit a shot at the buzzer.

“They got so excited,” English said. “We could hear them hollering in the locker room.”

But in the third quarter, Saint Mary’s outscored the Lady Flames, 19-14, to take a 35-31 lead. 

Saint Mary’s built that to a seven-point lead with 3:46 remaining in the contest.

“It was one of those you had to decide (to win),” English said. “I had to admit we had so little quickness.”

Shiloh Reaves hit a three-pointer, stole the inbounds pass and found Kendra Field, who was fouled and made both free throws all in six seconds. 

At the 2:11 mark, Brooke Field gave Faith the lead on a putback. After a Saint Mary’s miss, Kendra Field was fouled and hit one free throw.

Saint Mary’s could not score, so they fouled Kendra Field instead. She made both free throws.

Kendra Field had to deal with double-teams during the fourth period, English said.

“She never came out of the game and was exhausted the last several possessions but made the big free throws,” he said. “In the last three-and-a-half minutes when she really needed to come out, I couldn’t let her out. I called a full timeout. She got enough of a breather there.”

He was pleased with the defensive tenacity of his squad. 

“We just could not get any type of rhythm until about two minutes left in the third quarter,” the coach said. “We finally started to run and play harder defense. I was really proud of how hard we played the last 10 minutes.” 

The final three-and-a-half minutes was excellent basketball, English said. 

“I felt like they had an opportunity to close us out,” he said. “They missed a one-and-one  or two shots and gave us a little bit of life.”

When the Lady Flames led by a point, English said he thought they had enough energy to win the contest. 

Kendra Field was six of eight from the line in the final period for 20 points and 11 rebounds. 

Younger sister Brooke Field scored 14 points, all in the second half, and grabbed 10 rebounds. Reaves dropped in seven points, while Deanna Hoover had four, Laura Lykken dropped in two and Taylor Vaughn scored one.

Reaves and Lykken each had three rebounds, while Katie Jung and Vaughn grabbed two.

And though the game was not as smooth as English would have liked, he couldn’t argue with the results.

“I really am proud of them,” he said. “We took it up when we had to. Once it was over, the accomplishment was better than the ugliness of the play.” 

Courtesy photo