The Lady Eagles were able to hold off a gritty effort by New Hanover in a 62-54 win at home in a Mideastern Conference match up on Tuesday night.
Felecity Havens scored 19 of her game-high 27 points in the second half, while Kaili Rich carried the workload early to lead Ashley past the Wildcats.
“You really need to throw the book away when you’re talking about two crosstown rivals,” said Ashley Coach Adrienne Gale. “It’s always going to be a fight. We went up early and I knew they weren’t going to give up. It was the first time this season we were challenged like that and I thought we were able to stay composed down the stretch. We hit our foul shots and I’m definitely proud that we were able to come out of that with a win.”
Kapria Pressley got into her groove her for New Hanover with a baseline jumper to open the scoring and a good look by freshman Taylor Perkins to Nyasia Waddell in the block made it 5-2 Wildcats early on.
Rich was able to provide key baskets over the opening minutes of the contest for Ashley as Havens struggled to find her stroke through most of the first half.
Brittany Butts also put in a strong defensive effort with four steals, the first of which came midway through the first quarter as the senior picked off an arrant pass and took it the other way for the easy lay-in. The basket gave Ashley its first lead of the game as Rich followed it up with a jumper from the foul line to make it 9-5.
“You’re going to have nights like that when the shots just don’t fall. Felecity did a great job of rebounding in the second half, but that’s a senior [Kaili] stepping up when we needed her,” Gale said. “Kaili has also been there for us, taking charges, getting on the floor for loose balls, and tonight she put in some baskets.”
The Eagles unleashed a ferosious half-court press in the second stanza and forced New Hanover into eight turnovers over the next eight minutes to jump out to a 27-19 lead at the break. Ashley’s length and athleticism proved to be the difference even after the Wildcats battled back through the final two quarters of the game.
“We’ve struggled at the guard position so far this season and even though I thought we weathered that push the second quarter, turnovers ended up costing us some key possession down the stretch,” New Hanover Coach Vertha Dixon-Wright said.
New Hanover and Ashley traded blows early in the second quarter with Pressley knocking down back-to-back jump shots, which was followed by a back door pass on the other end of the floor to Sophia Neubauer for two.
Morgan Davis got into the scoring column for the Lady Eagles with 3:20 to play in the half with a rebound and put back, but Pressley found Waddell on consecutive times down the court to give New Hanover a 19-17 lead.
Two free throws from Havens, who finished a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line, tied the game, and a Havens’ steal and layup after two points from Rich in the paint started a 14-0 run that carried into the third quarter.
“That’s what we do. We try to pressure their back court and take advantage of their mistakes on the break,” said Gale. When we do that, we have the ability to capitalize. But after that push late in the first half, they started to make some adjustments and I thought it deflated us a little bit.”
The Wildcats came out with second wind after halftime as the New Hanover back court was able to break the trap, which led to easy buckets underneath for Waddell.
Pressley brought New Hanover to within 10 at the 5 minute mark of the third quarter and after Alex Simmons finished off a three-point play from the charity stripe, the Wildcats were in business with a seven-point swing in their favor.
“There were times our guards did a great job. Getting through that first line of defense has been our problem. When we were able to get the ball down the sideline, it turned into easy baskets down low,” Dixon-Wright said.
With New Hanover starting to gain some momentum, Chyna Cotton came off the bench for Ashley and picked up back-to-back steals and points to extend the Eagles lead to 37-26 heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
Pressley and company would not go down without a fight as Grace Cameron knocked down a three-ball to start the fourth quarter, followed by a Pressley steal and two free throws to make it a six point game with 5:40 to play.
A rebound and put back by Waddell on New Hanover’s next possession forced Gale to call a timeout with their lead cut down to four.
The back-and-forth contest continued until late in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats were able to make it 55-54 with under two minutes to go, but Havens stayed steady at the free throw line and after a New Hanover turnover, the senior standout knocked down a hard drive to the lane with 1:15 left in the game to seal the win.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full,” said Dixon-Wright. “I told them in the locker room that on a sheet of paper no one was going to give us a chance tonight. I crumpled up that paper and said look, ‘we’re going to forget about that stuff and go out there and play.’ We did that.
“If we can continue to work on our guard play, I’ve been satisfied with the rest of our game. We just need to take better care of the ball.”
New Hanover fell to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in conference with the setback, while Ashley picked up its seventh straight win and a 2-0 league mark. Pressley paced the Wildcats with 25 points and Waddell finished 9-of-12 from the field with 18 points.
Box score
NHHS 9-10-17-18=54
Ashley 11-16-20-15=62
Stats: Ashley- Felecity Havens, 27 points, three steals, two rebounds; Kaili Rich, 10 points, four rebounds; Morgan Davis, 7 points, five rebounds; Sophia Neubauer, 7 points, two rebounds, two blocks, two assists; Chyna Cotton, 5 points; Brittany Butts, 7 points, four steals; Penka Heusinkveld, 2 points
New Hanover– Kapria Pressley, 25 points; five assists; three steals; Nyasia Waddell, 18 points, five rebounds; Alex Simmons, 4 points, nine rebounds; Asia Davis, 4 points; Grace Cameron, 3 points
Laney 44 Topsail 20
Brianna Baham led the Lady Bucs attack with 16 points in a 44-20 win at Topsail on Tuesday. Laney remains unbeaten on the season at 7-0 overall and 2-0 in conference.
Hoggard 47 Pinecrest 27
The Lady Vikings improved to 5-3 on the year as Julia Buehler paced Hoggard with 16 points in a 47-27 win at home over Pinecrest. Tara Poteat put in eight points and Emma Haywood chipped in with five.
West Brunswick 53 South Brunswick 42
South 14-7-8-13=42
West 18-11-10-14=53
Trask 37 Wallace-Rose Hill 36
