Willard Lady Tigers knock off Rogersville Lady ‘Cats Willard boys basketball splits with Parkview, Hillcrest in hard fought contests

The Willard High School girls basketball team added another top notch win to their resume, knocking off Rogersville Dec. 6, while the boys team lost in overtime to Parkview on Dec. 5 but beat Hillcrest Dec. 7.
The Lady Tigers fell behind early to Rogersville at home, trailing 11-10 after the first quarter and 26-22 at the half. Willard battled back in the third quarter, clamping down on defense and outscoring the Lady Wildcats, 19-11 to take a 41-37 lead into the final quarter of play. Willard added 20 points in the fourth quarter to win the game, 61-56.
Nona Adamson led Willard with 17 points; Hannah Bird added 13 points and Lizzie Drennan ended the game with 12 points.
The Lady Tigers are scheduled to travel to Springfield Central on Dec. 13, for their only game of the week.
Willard hosted and beat Hillcrest on Dec. 7, 91-76.
The Tigers got a double-double from Daniel Abreu as he had a career high 44 points and added 15 rebounds in the win. Cole Oedewalt and Haden Brown each added nine points in the win.
“Friday night was a true game of runs,” said head coach Jeremy Draessler. “We would pull away and extend it to a high teen point differential, but then Hillcrest would counter with a big run of their own to make it a single digit game. Hillcrest’s athleticism gave our defense some difficulties. Overall, Coach Brown does a great job and we can learn a lot from this game.
Willard hosted the Parkview Vikings Dec. 4 and fell behind 22-12 at the end of the first quarter. A 26-point second quarter gave the Tigers a 38-36 lead heading into halftime.
Willard continued good defense in the third quarter and only allowed the Vikings 10 points, while putting up 25 points to take a 63-46 lead. Parkview came out strong in the fourth quarter, outscoring Willard 31-14 to tie the game at 77-77.
In overtime, Parkview scored 13 points, while only allowing just eight points to win the game 90-85.
“This was a game that we started off slow due to their pressure and were not attacking from the beginning,” said Draessler. “We were able to handle their run and bounce back and finish out the first half really well. In the second half we were doing everything it took to win the game, but due to foul trouble and lack of overall experience, they were able to make big plays and tie the game at the end of regulation. Without having a summer, we have not been able to fully finish close games. We will take this game as a painful loss, but a great learning experience for the future. It’s better to learn from December games, that way it doesn’t happen again in February. Parkview did a great job handling adversity, hats off to them for a job well done.”
Abreu led Willard with 24 points, Maurice Grayer and Riley Young both had 19 points and Dominic Hauk added 12 points in the loss. Abreu is now averaging 32.25 points per game.
Willard is scheduled to host Kickapoo on Thursday and will travel to Springfield to take part in the Guy Newcomb Shoot Out on Saturday.
 

Category:

Lawrence County Record

312 S. Hickory St.
Mt. Vernon, MO, 65712
www.lawrencecountyrecord.com

Facebook

Please Login for Premium Content