Lady Demons falter down stretch vs Grant

Miscues cost Lady Demons in tough loss to cross-town rival Grant Co.

Williamstown junior Katie Cheek (1) goes up for a shot in Friday's action versus Grant Co. Cheek finished with 12 points.

By Wade Holland

Publisher

The Williamstown Lady Demons were their own worst enemies Friday against cross-town rival Grant Co.

Ill-advised shots, turnovers, missed shots from both the field and free throw line, combined with foul trouble all spelled doom down the stretch in a heart-breaking 70-62 defeat in the important district match up.

The final score does not come close to telling the story of how the game went. Williamstown dominated for much of the 32-minute contest, with the Lady Demons building a double-digit lead and still holding the advantage with less than two minutes remaining before all the above short-comings took their toll and allowed Grant Co. to end the game on a 10-1 run over the final 1:22 of the game to steal the victory.

Williamstown missed eight free throws in the final quarter and was able to hit only six total shots over the final 16 minutes after dominating in the first half and looking like it may run away from the Lady Braves. The Lady Demons managed only 22 second-half points after scoring 21 in the second quarter alone.

Williamstown scored the game's first seven points and stretched its lead to double

Leading by one, WHS outscored 10-1 in final 1:30 of heart-breaking loss to Lady Braves

digits just 10 minutes into the contest. The Lady Demons' held their biggest advantage of the game at 11 points with four minutes left in the first half.

Leading by eight at the half, 38-30, Williamstown was lethargic coming out of the locker room after the break and Grant Co. scored the first nine points of the second half to take its first lead of the game, 39-38.

Outscoring Williamstown 16-3 in the first five minutes of the second half, Grant Co. took its biggest lead of the game, 46-41, with three minutes left in the third period and was still on top 49-47 going into the final period.

But Williamstown immediately took the lead back early in the fourth quarter and the two teams traded lead changes throughout the period. Williamstown was up 60-58 with three minutes remaining and held the advantage until Grant Co. took the lead for good, 62-61, around the 1:30 mark.

Williamstown was led in scoring by Rachel Montgomery with a game-high 25 points. The junior guard dominated the entire first half with 20 points to go with countless rebounds, steals and nice passes.

Fellow junior Katie Cheek was next for the Lady Demons with 12 points, scoring in all four quarters. She was the only player to do so for Williamstown.

Sophomore point guard Michaela Kennedy scored nine points for Williamstown, followed by Kiki Johnson with six, Olivia Souder and Sydney Taylor four each, and Justice Chambers two.