John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
DODSONVILLE — Even on an “off” shooting night, Keetyn Hupp and the North Adams Green Devils had enough in the tank to pull out a big early-season road win on Monday night.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Hupp led all scorers with 24 points and her Green Devils (3-0, 3-0 SHAC) were able to go into Lynchburg-Clay and pull out a hard-fought 51-44 victory over the Mustangs in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play.
“I struggle, normally, when I come to Lynchburg with their rims,” Hupp said. “But I was shooting a little better in warm-ups and when we were shooting at halftime, I was doing pretty well. So I became a little bit more confident. I didn’t do as well in the first half as I did in the second, but once I got into it, it was good.”
In the opening minutes of the contest, neither team could find the range, with each only having a single basket in the first four minutes.
Hupp broke things open slightly with a driving layup and then a deep 3-pointer to give the Green Devils a 7-2 lead with 3:44 left in the first quarter. Only the Mustangs would score again for the rest of the quarter on a nice post move from Ella Barber.
The second didn’t start much faster, but the Green Devils started to get some traction following a beautiful backdoor cut from Harlee Brand where Kenlie Jones found her for an easy score against the Mustangs’ zone defense. Jones and Hupp broke the game open a bit on consecutive possessions, with each hitting a 3 to make it a 17-6 lead and forcing a Mustang timeout with 3:20 left in the half.
The Mustangs (3-2, 2-2 SHAC) closed out the half with a mini-run, thanks to 3s from Jade Massey and Macy Etienne, giving them slight momentum heading into the locker room and bringing the deficit to 10 at 23-13.
To start the third, the Green Devils used triples from Hupp and Jones to quickly make it a 29-13 lead. The advantage never grew to more than 16, but after an inside basket from Hupp, the lead was 34-18 with 4:32 remaining in the quarter.
Coming out of a timeout, the Mustangs put together a nice 10-2 run, highlighted by a pair of 3s from Etienne and a pair of baskets from Bry Price. Heading into the fourth, the Green Devils maintained a 38-30 edge, but were in for much more of a dogfight than it appeared only four minutes earlier.
“We focused on pressure on them,” Hupp said of the Devils’ defensive game plan. “I know Macy is a shooter, a lot of them our shooters, so we knew we had to put pressure on them. Price can jump and she finishes at the basket. So, we knew we had to stop that. [Etienne and Price] were on our main focus. Stopping them was our biggest priority.”
The Mustangs never quit, bringing constant pressure to the Green Devils. But Hupp, Jones and Laney Ruckel controlled the ball, eventually starting to put the game away at the free throw line. But after three straight misses at the charity stripe, a slight window was slid open for the Mustangs and Addison West burst through that opening, scoring eight of her 12 points in the final stanza.
However, there wouldn’t be enough time for the Mustangs to complete a furious comeback attempt as Hupp buried a pair at the line to give the Green Devils a 51-44 victory and a 3-0 start to their season.
“[Hitting free throws] helps a lot,” Jones said. “They usually look for me because I’m a good ball-handler but we have Keetyn, Laney and Harlee, who are all there. It’s a good thing to have. I know that when they’re fouled, we can make the free throws at the end of the game that we need.”
Hupp finished with a game-high 24 points, alongside six rebounds while Jones did a little bit of everything, finsihing with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Ruckel pitched in with eight points and six boards.
The Mustangs were led by Etienne with 14 points, along with four triples. West added 12 points while Price added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Massey also chipped in with six points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
North Adams is back in action on Saturday at Batavia while the Mustangs attempt to bounce back on Thursday, playing host to Fairfield.
“It’s a really good start,” Jones said. “It’s really nice to have this win against Lynchburg, who was picked to win our league.”
BOX SCORE
North Adams: 7-16-15-13 — 51
Lynchburg-Clay: 4-9-17-14 — 44
North Adams: 18-55 FG, 9-15 FT, 6-21 3pt., 33 rebounds, 14 turnovers, 14 assists.
Lynchburg-Clay: 16-51 FG, 6-7 FT, 6-17 3pt., 38 rebounds, 16 turnovers, 14 assists.
SPONSORED BY WILLEY & SON TRUCKING
