Lady Bobcats Declaw Lady Wolverines

The Gilmer High School Lady Bobcats, who hosted the second day of the Christmas Shootout, faced the Lady Wolverines of Walker High School in Marietta, and came away with a 54-21 victory.The Lady Bobcats grabbed boards like it was a “Black Friday” give away at Home Depot. Three different players grabbed at least six rebounds. Starter Ansley Mulkey, led all with nine rebounds, while fellow starter Savannah Summers, and key reserve Brittany Lowman, both grabbed six a piece. By contrast the Lady Wolverine’s co-leading rebounders, Maggie Keappler, and Johanna Ortiz, each had five.

The home team led through out the contest. Both teams applied the press early, as well as a steady diet of lane packing zone defense, to force the other to make outside shots. The Lady Bobcats had little problem advancing against the press, while the Lady Wolverines struggled mightily with turnovers, despite leading scorer (10) Alyse Scott’s consistent killer crossover.

The Lady Bobcats led 15-6 at the end of first quarter, after reserve Megan Fox hit a three pointer right at the buzzer. Fox also had a key break away steal and lay up that pushed their already impressive lead to 22-13, which was followed by a consecutive quarter ending buzzer beating three pointer by another key reserve, Britton Farlow that gave the home team a 25-13 half time lead.

The visitors made a half time adjustment of switching from the press to a trap zone that somewhat frustrated the home team as they had some trouble getting the ball in bounds through out the half, however, the Wolverines continued to have trouble with their hosts’ tenacious defense through out the second half, only scoring eight total points in the half, four in each quarter.

The Lady Bobcats offset their offensive struggles with a continuous dose of press that produced 13 steals total for the game and a 41-17 lead going into the fourth quarter. The home team continued to press deep into the quarter prompting one Walker fan to exclaim,

“Coach you’re still pressing with a 30 point lead!”

With 3:47 left, in the game coach Horton pulled his starters and cleared the bench.