Draughn girls lose to undefeated Newton-Conover

By: Bill Bailey | Morganton News Herald
Published: February 18, 2010

Hickory, NC --

Everything went the Newton-Conover girls' way during first-half action in Wednesday's semifinal of the Catawba Valley Athletic Conference tournament at Catawba Valley Community College.
The Lady Red Devils were up 30 to 11 at the half over Draughn High School of Valdese. Someone forgot to take the lid off the basket for the Lady Cats whose first-half points all came via the free throw line.
Then a funny thing happened in the third quarter, when the Lady Devils had just as much trouble scoring while the Lady Cats came out fired up and outpointed the undefeated CVAC champs 17 to 5. Lady Cat Samantha Hoyle hit the first basket of the night for the No. 4-seed Draughn team and ended up with eight third-quarter points to lead the comeback.
Down by seven, 35-28, going into the fourth the Lady Cats got as close as six points, but the Newton-Conover girls finally regained their composure, hit some late shots and pulled away to a 51-36 win. Renee Lewis had 13 points and Quazzy Tipps added a dozen to lead the Lady Devils' offense. Draughn's Hoyle had 11and fellow senior Sasha Connelly put in 9 while playing with an injured ankle.
Lady Cats' Coach Jay Murray was proud of his team's second-half recovery.
"Anyone coming in at halftime would have trouble believing that we were the same team that went 0 for 15 from the floor in the first half and were trailing by 19 points at the break. The girls could have packed it in and quit after the first-half fiasco, but this team does not quit. They came out in the third quarter and made a game of it, but could not get over that six-point deficit. The team gave the undefeated conference champs a nice third-quarter effort before the Lady Devils got a handle on the game late in the fourth quarter.
"I just wish we could put four of those third quarters together next Monday when we open the state playoffs on the road against a top seed. We have a few days to heal a little, as several of the players are playing banged up, and the team will be ready to go next week."
CVAC SEMIFINAL GIRLS ACTION AT CVCC Newton Conover 51 Draughn 36
Draughn (36) Samantha Hoyle 11, S. Connelly 9, Lauren Duckworth 7, W. Robinson 3, T. Lechner 2, F. Young 2, H. Copeland 2.
Newton Conover (51) Renee Lewis 13, Quazzy Tipps 12, T. Littlejohn 8, T. Kent 8, S. Whitener 4, K. Gibbs 3, B. Alston 3

Draughn girls lose to undefeated Newton-Conover

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