Woodford girls win three straight for first time
After a rocky 6-10 start, Woodford County High School girls’ junior Halee Hood said she’s noticed a few recent changes that have helped spark the team’s three-game winning streak. “I think we’ve just started getting used to the system and the coaching staff. Another big thing is that we’ve gotten a bunch of people to come off the bench and give us productive minutes. That’s something a lot of teams don’t have, and we’re trying to take advantage of that,” Hood said. The bench was certainly productive in the Lady Yellow Jackets’ 65-52 win over Spencer County Friday night in Versailles. Hood played a key role, scoring eight of the WCHS bench’s 21 points. The win was the Jackets’ second consecutive district win after last Tuesday’s 80-40 drubbing of Shelby County. The Jackets followed up Friday’s win with a 57-51 victory over Boyle County Monday night. Down 25-13 after the first quarter, Woodford’s defense improved greatly. “We underestimated their shooters,” said Hood. “We knew they could shoot, but didn’t get out to them as quick as we should have. In the second quarter we made sure we closed out to the shooters and tried to speed them up.” WCHS outscored the Lady Rebels 15-3 in the second quarter to tie the score at 28 by halftime and outlasted the Rebels in the second half to emerge victorious. Spencer County, 65-52 win The Jackets took on their 30th District rival, the SCHS Lady Bears, in front of The Hive’s largest crowd this season. The previous matchup between the two teams came Jan. 6 at Spencer County, where the Jackets were blown out in the fourth quarter after a near-even first three quarters. A 43-43 tie turned into a 70-49 loss for WCHS, mostly due to the Bears’ outside shooting. Spencer County made 17 three-pointers, including seven in the fourth quarter, to down the Jackets in their prior meeting. Friday was different. Woodford consistently led and rather than wilting down the stretch, the Jackets rose to the occasion, particularly senior guard Abby Moffett. Moffett scored 24 points to lead all scorers, perfectly distributing those points with 12 in each half. Her first big run came in the first quarter. Moffett scored eight unanswered points for the Jackets to put the team ahead 12-4 after six minutes. Following a Spencer County basket, WCHS sophomore Mackenzie Karo laid a pass off to trailing junior Halee Hood for a three-pointer with seven seconds left to give the Jackets a 15-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Woodford eighth-grader Niah Rhodes knocked down another three 35 seconds into the second quarter to push the lead to 12. The teams traded baskets and still Woodford led by a dozen before four SCHS free throws in the final 30 seconds of the second half shrunk the margin to eight for a 27-19 score. The Bears won the third quarter, cutting the lead to 43-37 despite a balanced Woodford attack. Six Jackets combined for 16 points in the quarter and no player scored more than Karo’s four points. The offenses sputtered early in the fourth quarter. WCHS held Spencer County to a single point in the first four minutes of the quarter and four points from Moffett helped push the lead back to twelve at 50-38. Junior Bears guard Mikayla Ennis responded with four points of her own but Moffett responded by getting to the rim for a layup. Two of the final four Spencer County baskets were three-pointers, but the Bears were unable to conjure up the same magic from behind the arc that they had almost three weeks earlier in Taylorsville. Moffett scored another five points on a three-pointer and two free throws to stymie the comeback attempt and keep Spencer County at arm’s length. The Bears were able to cut the lead to seven with 1:14 to play but were outscored 8-2 in the final minute. Woodford County returns to district play Friday night at Collins in Shelbyville. The Lady Titans are a 3-2 in district play after upsetting Anderson County at home last Friday, 70-61.