“If we play like this (every night) we can go all the way”, these words were spoken by Terry Parker Head Coach Renee Howell. The Terry Parker Lady Braves record was below .500 before their 72-41 win over the undefeated Fleming Island Lady Golden Eagles Tuesday night. Howell knows what her team is capable of as long as they are consistent in their play, something she hasn’t seen from her team all year.
From the jump ball the Lady Braves had control of the game, they scored the first points of the night and put the pressure on the Lady Golden Eagles forcing them into turnovers and into a rushed offense and horrible shot selection. The Lady Golden Eagles were held to just five points in the first quarter. The Lady Braves weren’t too much better in hitting first chance shots either, but the difference was that the Lady Braves were getting second and third shots, out-rebounding the Lady Golden Eagles on the offensive end.
The Lady Braves opened their lead over Fleming Island in the second quarter continuing to take the ball inside and get layups. Fleming Island kept trying to shoot deep three pointers to keep themselves in the game but couldn’t knock them down and led for long rebounds that Terry Parker was able to turn into fastbreaks. Lady Braves sophomore captain Janell Johnson and senior center Brianna Raynor combined for 13 points in the second quarter and largened the lead over the Lady Golden Eagles to 19 points.
The third quarter was the best quarter of basketball for the Lady Golden Eagles, they were finally able to knock down the three pointers they had been attempting all evening. The Lady Braves stayed in a 2-3 defense, trying to keep the middle locked up but that opened the door for junior guard Emma Richard and sophomore point guard Avery Cannon to knock down four three pointers. The lead was still extended only because the Lady Golden Eagles were not able to stop the MVP of the night in Terry Parker’s Johnson and waking up the other sophomore sensation Kiana Wilson knocking down eight of her points in this quarter. This was the highest scoring of the quarters, Terry Parker narrowly outscoring Fleming Island 21-20.
The fourth quarter came and the writing was already on the wall, that Terry Parker was going to win the game so this allowed for Howell’s team to slow the ball down and work on their offense, going inside-out and running things through Wilson and Raynor in the post.
The Lady Braves were led in scoring by Johnson with 22 points, followed behind by Raynor with 19 points. Fleming Island was led by junior shooting guard Emma Richard with 18 points.
Terry Parker (3-3) will travel to First Coast (2-4) to play the Lady Buccaneers on December 9th at 7pm. Fleming Island (3-1) will travel to Ponte Vedra (1-3) on December 3rd.
