By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — Maybe it was only fitting that Southwestern’s Danay Fothergill shot down arch-rival Somerset with a running one-handed three-pointer at the buzzer last night at The Wigwam, to give the Lady Warriors a thrilling, 60-57 Senior Night win over the Lady Briar Jumpers.
For the game, Southwestern managed to hit 12 field goals from the floor — 11 of them were from behind the three point arc, while the Lady Warriors made a living at the free throw line, hitting on 25 of 28 attempts.
So much for the Wayne County hangover, after the Lady Warriors fell to the Lady Cards on Friday night 72-66 in overtime — in a game that Fothergill, the state’s number two leading scorer, tallied a game-high 41 points.
Last night against Somerset, the Southwestern All-State candidate led everybody with 35 points, but none were bigger than her three at the buzzer from 26 feet out that broke a 57-57 tie.
“I think we hit 11 of 18 shots tonight from behind the three-point line, and that one two-point basket we had for the game was simply an accident,” laughed Rice, after his team avenged an early season, 63-48 loss at Somerset.
“We did a lot better job of handling their pressure tonight than we did in our first meeting with them way back at the beginning of the year,” pointed out the SWHS head coach. “And, I think we did a much better job on the defensive end as well. Shooting wise, we just take what you give us, and if we need to take 30 three’s in a game, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Lori Thomas got Somerset off and running by scoring the first five points of the game, but the Lady Warriors, behind Fothergill’s 11 first quarter points, roared back to take a 20-11 lead after one period of play.
In a sign of things to come, the Lady Warriors drilled five three-point baskets in that opening eight minutes, with Fothergill cashing in two, Adison Corder drained a pair, and Emily Walker had one trey.
In the first half, all of Southwestern’s made baskets, (6), were three pointers, coupled with an outstanding, 15 of 16 from the charity stripe.
Still, despite the torrid shooting by the Lady Warriors, Somerset kept this one close, trailing by just seven points, 33-26 at the intermission.
“We didn’t play hard enough in the first half, and that put us behind the eight ball tonight,” lamented Somerset head coach Chris Adkins.
“Anytime you come off of homecoming — last night we had three girls in the Queen Court, and we had the dance last night, and they got up at two o’clock today, out of their routine and no school today, all of those things factor in for both teams obviously,” stated the Lady Jumper coach. “It was senior night here, and they did a tremendous job, and they took some things away from us that we like to do.”
Southwestern’s lone two point field goal of the night came with 1:21 remaining in the third quarter, when Jessica Pierce made a nifty move on the baseline for a basket.
That score by Pierce gave Southwestern its biggest lead of the night over Somerset at 47-34.
However, the Lady Jumpers had a final run left in the tank.
Somerset closed out the third period with a modest, 7-0 spurt, whittling the deficit to 47-41 at the end of the third period of play.
Early in the final stanza, the Lady Jumpers continued that run, scoring the first six points of the quarter.
What would turn out to be a 13-0 spurt by Adkins’ club ended with a Lori Thomas old-fashioned three-point play, which knotted this one up at 47-47 with 7:07 left in the contest, forcing Rice to call a timeout.
Coming out of that timeout, Fothergill, who hit on 23 of 26 from the free throw line for the contest, drilled a pair of free throws, giving the Lady Warriors a 49-47 lead.
But, that lead would be short-lived.
Jessica Coffey, who led the Lady Jumpers with 15 points, came down on the next possession and drilled a trey of her own, and Somerset had its first lead, 50-49, since way back at the beginning of the first period.
After that shot by Coffey, it was game on.
There were four ties and five lead changes in the final quarter, as the lead see-sawed back and forth between the two clubs over the next two to three minutes of play.
With her club down 53-52, a Rolisa Jones lay-up gave Somerset a 54-53 advantage, but Fothergill came down the floor seconds later and drained a trey, making it 56-54 in favor of the Lady Warriors.
Thomas then converted another old-fashioned three-point play, giving Somerset a 57-56 lead.
After Fothergill made one of two from the charity stripe on Southwestern’s next possession to tie this one up for the final time at 57-57, Adkins called a timeout with :19 left on the clock to set up for one final play.
Coming out of that timeout, Somerset worked the ball around the perimeter, and freshman Bethany Edwards fired up a three-point attempt from the top of the key, but it was an air ball, giving Southwestern possession with :3.9 left in the game.
The Lady Warriors got the ball to midcourt, and called a timeout with :0.9 left, setting up Fothergill for her last second (literally) heroics.
Out of that timeout, Fothergill received the inbounds pass, fired up a one-handed 26-footer that banked off the backboard and rolled all over the rim before finally falling through the net as the horn sounded.
Southwestern 60—Somerset 57; let the celebration begin.
“I would much rather have traded this game for last night’s game at Wayne County,” Rice remarked, in referring to his club’s overtime loss on Friday night that cost it the number one seed for the upcoming 48th District Tournament.
“I told the girls before the game, to see what we’re made of, I wanted to see how we would respond tonight,” continued the Lady Warrior coach. “We could have come out here and laid down and took a 20-point beating, but our girls came out here and played strong and confident, and I’m real proud of them that they were able to bounce back from that devastating loss last night.”
As for Adkins, with the heart-breaking defeat to Southwestern, the Lady Jumpers fell to 15-7 on the year, but the SHS head coach is confident that his crew will bounce back, and will bounce back very quickly.
“We’re an experienced junior and senior dominated team and we’ve been through the wars before,” pointed out Adkins.
“I think the disappointment from this game tonight will be gone pretty soon in all honesty,” he added.
With the win, Southwestern will bring a ton of momentum into Tuesday night’s game at cross-town rival PC, while Somerset will return home to The Briar Patch on Thursday night to host Wayne County.
SHS 11 15 15 16 — 57
SW 20 13 14 13 — 60
SOMERSET — Thomas 15, Dorsey 14, Coffey 13, Jones 11, Kerr 3, Barnes 1
SOUTHWESTERN — Fothergill 35, Walker 9, Corder 9, Pierce 4, Molden 3
