Lady Lions Advance to Regional Quarters
Lovelady Defeats Bosqueville for Area Championship, 41-34
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
FAIRDFIELD – It wasn’t pretty, but an ugly win counts just as much as a pretty one – especially at this time of the year. Win and advance is the mantra for every team remaining in the girls’ UIL 2022 Basketball Playoffs.
The Lovelady Lady Lions traveled to Fairfield last Friday night for an Area Championship matchup with the Bosqueville Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Lions came into the contest ranked #5 in Class 2A with a record of 32-4 while the Lady Bulldogs were unranked with a 25-8 record.
To get to the Area Championship, Lovelady breezed to an easy 78-35 win over the Cross Roads Lady Bobcats in the Bi-District round while Bosqueville had handled their business against the Bremond Lady Tigers by a final score of 53-36.
All year, the Lady Lions had run an up-tempo offense and were comfortable scoring in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The Lady Bulldogs, on the other hand, were much more of a slow, methodical, at least three-passes- before-a-shot style of team which was much more comfortable with games in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.
After the tip, it was evident the tempo was going to favor Bosqueville. In fact, the Lady Bulldogs held the Lady Lions to their second lowest point total of the year. It still wasn’t enough, however, as Lovelady slipped out of Fairfield with a 41-34 win and punched their ticket to the Regional Quarterfinals.
To be brutally honest, the first quarter was mind-numbing as the two teams combined for a total of six points. The Lady Lions’ defense held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless during the first eight minutes of play.
The Lovelady offense wasn’t a whole lot better as the Lady Lions only scored six points on twos from Mihyia Davis, Aaliyah Jones and Lexi Price.
It wasn’t until the 5:28 mark of the second quarter when Bosqueville scored its first points of the contest. As the game continued, however, Lovelady opened up a 13-3 lead by the 3:36 mark of the half, which forced Bosqueville to call a timeout.
Following the stoppage of play, the pace of the game picked up for both teams the Lady Lions took a 21-10 lead into the locker room at the end of the first half.
Niki Clark and Haylee Harper both had three for the Lady Bulldogs while Jaden Dougherty and Tallen Stanford had two apiece to close out the Bosqueville first-half scoring.
Jones and Shyanne Pipkin both dropped in five during the second quarter, while Macie LaRue drained a three-pointer. Davis added another two to the Lovelady tally to close out the Lady Lions’ second quarter point production.
Following the break, Lovelady went ice cold from the field as the Lady Lions only mustered four points in the third period on baskets from Davis and Pipkin.
Bosqueville, meanwhile, began to chip away at the lead as they cut the margin to seven by the end of the quarter. Dougherty netted five while Emma Bradshaw had two and Clark had one to trim the lead to 25-18 at the end of three periods of play.
Between the quarters, both teams seemed to find some offense. The Lady Bulldogs sliced the lead to five with 7:10 remaining in the game and had the margin down to four at 32-28 with 3:21 left to play.
Bosqueville eventually got the lead down to three but an “and one” from Davis pushed the margin back to six as Lovelady held on to win by a final score of 41-34.
The Lady Bulldogs’ fourth quarter scoring came from Dougherty with six and Clark with five. Harper hit a three-pointer and Stanford added two.
Davis paced Lovelady with nine while Price had five. Pipkin chipped in a basket to round out the Lady Lions’ fourth quarter scoring.
In the end, the difference in the game came down to free throws. Simply put, the Lady Lions made theirs and the Lady Bulldogs didn’t. During the fourth quarter, Lovelady made 10 of 11 free throws while Bosqueville only made two of seven. On the game, Lovelady made 13 of 15 from the line while Bosqueville made four of 17.
On the game, Jaden Dougherty led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 13. Niki Clark had nine, Haylee Harper had six, Tallen Stanford added four and Emma Bradshaw rounded out the Bosqueville scoring with two.
Lovelady’s Mihyia Davis led all scorers with 15 points, to go along with three steals. Shyanne Pipkin dropped in nine points and had 10 rebounds. Aaliyah Jones had seven points, 10 boards and three blocks. Lexi Price also had seven points, as well as six rebounds and four blocks.
The win moves the Lady Lions into the Regional Quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 22 where they will face the #2 ranked Martin’s Mill Lady Mustangs. The game will be played at Elkhart High School and tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
