A basket here and there Tuesday night, and Polk County’s girls basketball squad might be off to a perfect start to the 2013-14 season.
The Wolverines more than held their own against a solid North Henderson squad before the Knights closed the game with a 12-4 run to take a 53-47 victory in non-conference action at Polk.
Polk County (1-1) constantly created good looks at the basket with good ball movement in its halfcourt offense and relentless pressure defense that forced 17 steals and numerous fast-break chances. But the Wolverines just needed a few more of those attempts to fall.
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“The big difference was that our shots just didn’t go in,” said Polk County head coach Craig Culbreth. “I thought we played hard. That’s a good team.”
Hayley Kropp scored 14 points, with eight steals and four assists, and Sarah Phipps had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Polk County, who fell behind by seven late in the third quarter before rallying to take the lead.
Down 39-34 with 6:15 left, Lyric Flood scored four points in a five-second span to quickly cut the North Henderson lead to a single point. Phipps gave Polk the lead at the 4:21 mark with a layup and, after a North Henderson timeout, Kropp swiped the ball, drove the length of the court, spun around a North defender and scored to give Polk a 44-41 lead.
The Knights soon scored on a Rebekah Bagwell layup, then followed a missed Polk free throw with a 3-pointer by Ellie Caldwell to take a 46-44 lead that they would never lose.
Six-foot senior post player Cameron Pryor scored 18 points to lead North Henderson (3-1).
“Cameron Pryor showed she’s a good player,” Culbreth said. “She hurt us inside.
“I thought we moved the ball well. Any time we got into transition, we were able to score and we made some runs. We stalled a little bit when we got into our halfcourt game.”
Polk County Scoring
Sarah Phipps 15, Ashley Kropp 14, Lyric Flood 8, India Godlock 4, Ashley Love 2, Janada Carson 2, Savannah Ross 2
North Henderson Scoring
Cameron Pryor 18, Ellie Caldwell 11, Hannah Bracket 9, Caroline Marsh 7, Jonnie Petree 6, Rebekah Bagwell 2
