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By: Chris Evans
Piedmont -The Guthrie Lady Jays had a game of two halves. The second half proved to be the difference in their fifth game of the season, Friday night, against the Lady Wildcats of Piedmont to picked up the out of conference win.
Despite trailing 23-14 at the half, Guthrie took advantage by stepping up the tempo defensively and securing a 40-34 win to improved to 4-1. Piedmont drops their season record to 1-4 with the loss.
Piedmont started the game on a 5-0 run before Guthrie could get on the scoreboard three minutes into the game and would trail at the end of the quarter 9-7 and the second would not be any better for the Lady Jays.
Guthrie tied the game up at 9-9, but Piedmont would regain the lead and would expand that lead as much as nine points when Piedmont got a free throw and field goal in the final 1:14 to go to the locker room on top 23-14.
Head coach Terry Carris made it clear, in the half time locker room, that his squad had to pick up the defensive intensity as well as screening out. Piedmont was able to get numerous second and third shot opportunities with offensive rebounds.
However, Guthrie would start the third quarter on 7-1 run in the first three minutes of the quarter to pull within one of the Lady Wildcats, 24-23, and 24 seconds later, at the 4:36 mark, Guthrie would take their first lead of the night.
A lead that Guthrie would not surrender. Despite neither team scoring in the final three minutes of the third quarter, Guthrie outscored Piedmont 13-2 in the quarter.
With a 27-25 advantage heading into the fourth quarter, Piedmont missed two free throws to begin the quarter and senior Emily Davis hit her second trey of the night, at the 6:25 mark, to increase the lead 30-25. Guthrie's biggest lead on the night was six points. In which, Guthrie was able to accomplish twice in the fourth quarter.
Piedmont drew within two, 33-31, with 3:14 to play, but Guthrie would out score the Lady Wildcats 7-3 in the remainder of the game.
Davis finished with a game high 18 points, of the teams 40 points, including connecting on her first two three pointers on the season. Piedmont's senior Brittney Roehrig chipped in with 17 points for the Wildcats.
The 15th ranked Lady Jays will be back in action Tuesday night when they host the Stillwater Lady Pioneers for their home opener of the season inside Guthrie High School gymnasium with a tip time of 6:30 p.m. Guthrie defeated Stillwater 53-49 back on December 14th in Stillwater.
The Guthrie-Stillwater game can be heard on Guthrie's new radio home for Bluejay athletics, Triple Play Sports 105.1FM, with a pre-game show starting at 6:00 p.m.
For player interviews (Emily Davis, Tory Dwyer, and Jessica Dwyer) please visit the podcast page. Also, on the podcast page hear from Guthrie head coach Terry Carris on his teams performance against the Piedmont Lady Wildcats.
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