GREENVILLE – Despite a great team effort and 21 points from sophomore Kaylee Jackson, the short-handed Lady Wave of Greenville fell to the Graham Lady Falcons 53-51 in the Annie Oakley Shootout consolation game.
With junior Karsyn Shaffer and sophomore Cassie Cromwell still hampered by injuries, Greenville has used many players and different combinations of them.
“I’m really excited about how our girls are growing before we get our other players back,” Lady Wave coach Rachel Kerns said.
Graham jumped to a quick 5-0 lead, but three field goals from Jackson and two of her 15 points off the bench from senior Abby Miller gave Greenville the lead at 8-5.
“Kaylee and Abby played great tonight,” Kerns said.
Graham would finish the period on an 8-0 run capped by a long shot for three points that just beat the buzzer at the quarter break. This later would prove costly.
The second quarter saw Graham still looking to power the ball inside as much as possible. The Lady Wave countered with the scoring of Jackson and Miller, who ended up with 11 and nine respectively for the half, as the Lady Falcons took a 27-25 lead into intermission.
Third quarter action saw both offenses sluggish as neither side could get much going against the other. The Lady Wave held up well against the taller Lady Falcons. Only three points would separate the teams heading into the fourth quarter at 36-33 with Graham leading.
The largest lead of the fourth quarter would be three points. Both teams grappled back and forth, and the lead would change five times.
Sophomore Payton Brandenburg scored a basket and four free throws before fouling out with 2:35 left to spark the Lady Wave offense. Jackson then took over the Greenville offense by scoring three consecutive field goals to give the Lady Wave the lead 47-45 nearing two minutes remaining.
“Kaylee really played unbelievable,” Kerns said. “She did what we asked her to do.”
The Lady Wave went cold from the free throw line. They scored their final four points of the game from the charity stripe but did so on 4 of 9 shooting the final 2:12.
As Greenville struggled, Graham’s Taylor Gibson would score the Lady Falcons’ final seven points. Her final two with less than 25 seconds remaining gave Graham the victory.
“Game difference was at the free throw line,” Kerns said. “Smarter with fouls and better with free throws and we win that game.”
Greenville- 51 2 3 FTM FTA PTS
Cable 0 0 0 2 0
Brandenburg 2 0 4 7 8
McKinney 1 0 2 4 4
Wenning 1 0 1 3 3
Jackson 8 1 2 6 21
Miller 5 0 5 7 15
Totals 17 1 14 29 51
Graham- 53 2 3 FTM FTA PTS
Horner 3 0 0 0 6
Flora 2 0 0 0 4
Henry 1 0 2 4 4
Tullis 2 1 6 13 13
Gibson 9 0 3 7 21
Smith 1 0 0 0 2
Theodor 0 1 0 0 3
Totals 18 2 11 24 53
Graham 13 14 9 17 53
Greenville 8 17 8 18 51
