Houston’s GW layup tops Lady Hawks
It took several games, but the Oxford Lady Chargers found a way to win a close game.
Audria Houston went the length of the court and scored a layup at the buzzer for the Lady Chargers to defeat the Myrtle Lady Hawks 62-61 Thursday night at the OHS Gym.
Oxford (6-8 overall) trailed for most of the last three quarters until with less than two minutes left in regulation when Labriyah Parker was left alone from behind the arc, squared up and knocked down a three to give Oxford a 57-55 lead after trailing by as many as 10.
“(Winning a close game) was my speech to them,” Oxford coach Cliff Ormon said. “Players found a way to make plays tonight. I thought Labriyah Parker hit a huge three in the fourth quarter to give us the lead and we finally saw some life from our team. I thought we played well offensively, but we just didn’t have that energy to get stops. Credit Myrtle, they were getting after it tonight.”
Although ironically layups were hard to come by, the three-point shot was open for business as the teams combined to make 14 on the night. Both Oxford and Myrtle (3-5) seemed to counter each other’s three-point shot with one of their own throughout the night.
“I tell my players all the time when we shoot it well, it looks like I’m really smart,” Ormon said. “Just making shots is good offensive basketball. That’s what you hope to do is get some open looks and knock them down. I thought we did that. We just kept chipping away and we found a way late in the fourth quarter to win this game. It was a great win. I thought Keyunna Tellis stepped up big in the second half. She played a good first half, but made some energy plays, plays that we needed and it was just a good team win.”
Tellis finished the contest with a team-high 17 points before fouling out with nine seconds left. Houston matched Tellis with 17 points of her own. Kaylin Mathis chipped in 11 points to lead Oxford. Myrtle was led by the game-high 30 points from Kinsley Gordon, including making two free throws to give Myrtle a 61-60 lead with 4.9 seconds left. Charlize Williams added 16 points while Lexi Hutcheson tacked on 11 points for the Lady Hawks.
The Lady Chargers returns to action Monday in the Kirk Academy Classic Tournament in Grenada. They will face Leake Academy at 2:30 p.m. on Monday and then Magnolia Heights on Tuesday before taking a Christmas break.
