The Lady Redhawks soundly defeated the Camden Bulldogs on Friday by a score of 47-41, a score which fails to depict the Redhawks’ actual dominance of the game. The game was the second meeting of these two teams. The Redhawks also won the first game, but it was not the rout that Friday’s game was.
Westwood head coach Christeen Hagood was under the weather, but her shoes were ably filled by assistant coach Greg Bauldrick.
“What we did three weeks ago doesn’t matter tonight. We will come out with our zone defense, but we will use a variety of defenses and adjust as the game develops,” said Bauldrick. “We are looking for balanced scoring. We aren’t relying on high scoring from any one player.”
Friday’s game was particularly important to Westwood because of the playoffs, which are soon to begin. “We have to keep winning. If we don’t win tonight, it’s over,” said Bauldrick.
The Bulldog’s head coach, Lisa Jeffcoat, was aware that her team didn’t get a good start last game against the Redhawks. “We Really need to get off to a good start tonight, it’s real important. We need someone to step up tonight, we will see who that might be,” she said.
Westwood’s Kaylah Atkins (32) converts on the fast break against Camden Friday.
But the good start Jeffcoat wanted did not materialize. The Redhawks took control of the game right from the tipoff. Aggressive play by Samantha Pulley along with Anah Livingston, combined with good shooting by Mikeya Matthews, shut the Lady Bulldogs out for the complete first period and much of the second. The first quarter ended with a score of 11-0 in favor of Westwood. In fact, the Bulldogs wouldn’t score until 4:51 into the second period, and even then it was from the foul line. The first field goal for Camden wouldn’t come until 2:28 left in the half with the score 21-9.
Beginning about halfway through the third period, Camden pushed hard to get back in the game with some success. With 4:40 to go in the third period, the Lady Bulldogs pulled to within 10 points of Westwood. Camden would hold steady for the rest of the period, but could not eat into the 10-point deficit. The third period ended with the score 36-25 in favor of Westwood.
The fourth period would be much the same as the third, as the gap stayed at about 10 points. Camden closed the gap to nine points, 46-37, with 1:12 to go in the game. In the final seconds of the game, Dree Dubose hit a 3-pointer for the Bulldogs to bring the score to 46-41, which was the final score in the game. Despite the final score differential being only six points, the game was never that close in terms of play. Westwood dominated throughout, and never appeared in danger of losing.
Tuesday night, the Lady Redhawks closed out their season with a 66-26 loss at Lower Richland.
