Post Photo by Chris Siers Jayli Childress takes aim and drills a 3-pointer in the Lady ‘Dawgs 20-point third. She led all scorers with 17 points.
By CHRIS SIERS
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
CORNERSVILE — Cornersville Lady ‘Dawg coach Hayden McMahon has wanted his team to start faster to prepare for the postseason.
While it wasn’t the fastest of starts on the offensive end of the court, Cornersville (14-8, 6-2) held Culloeka scoreless in the final district game of the regular season and capitalized off a strong second and third quarter in the 51-21 blowout win.
“They played us hard on Friday night. I told them (Cornersville) we have to come out and get a better first quarter going. Our first quarters have been slow. Against a really good team, you may not have a chance to dig yourself out of the hole. We’e got seven in a row. We want to keep this thing rolling,” he said.
It was a struggle to get shots to fall through the first quarter, but defensively, Culleoka simply struggled to find open looks and at times, even move the ball across half-court.
It wasn’t until the 4:30 mark of the second quarter the Lady Warriors were able to find their first points of the game.
In the 15-point second quarter, Ady Gentry led the way with eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers for the Lady ‘Dawg post.
Abigail Finley added a third 3-pointer in the period for the home team.
Leading 22-8 entering the third, it was senior Jayli Childress who then took over and essentially put the game away for Cornersville.
Childress was able to effectively drive through the Culleoka defense and piled on 13 total points, including a key 3-pointer.
“We tell them to get to the basket and that starts opening your jump shots. She (Childress) scored six in a row at one point. If they want to crowd the paint or double team somebody, that opens the lane for her,” McMahon said.
Cornersville only gave up six more points in the fourth quarter to Culloeka to cap its seventh-straight win.
With momentum firmly on their side, McMahon says there are key fundamentals he wants to see from his team in preparation for next week’s District 10-A tournament, which Cornersville will host.
“I think we have to have some really good practices. Knowing what defense we’re in and communicating. There’s just some small things we need to do better that great teams do,” he said.
Culleoka 0 8 7 6 — 21
Cornersville 7 15 20 6 — 51
Culleoka: Maci McKennon 11, Kendall Reischman 4, Addison Massey 4, Emilee Rochester 2.
Cornersville: Jayli Childress 17, Ady Gentry 10, Katie Powers 6, Abigail Finley 5, Annabelle Mulliniks 3, Camille Franklin 3, Summer Anthony 2, Anna Wood 2.
3-Point goals: Cornersville (5): Gentry 2, Childress, Mulliniks, Finley.
Halftime score: Cornersville 22, Culleoka 8.
