Terrell Academy blocks DWS’ last shot attempt to win nail-biter

DAWSON — Tuesday night was the opener in GISA Region 3-AAA play for Deerfield Windsor and Terrell Academy. The game literally went down to the wire.

Terrell Academy’s Alana McCook blocked Kelsey King’s shot attempt at the buzzer and the Lady Eagles took a 45-44 victory.

King led all scorers with 19 points. Terrell Academy had two players in double figures — Alana McCook and Teesa Jordan each had 11 points to lead the Lady Eagles.

The Lady Knights jumped out to a 4-0 lead early with baskets from King and Teasie Williams. The first quarter was a low-scoring quarter as both teams struggled to score. However, with three minutes to go in the quarter, both teams started to heat up and by the end of the first, Terrell Academy had an 11-9 lead.

The second quarter was an evenly played quarter with both teams exchanging leads. However, Terrell Academy’s Olivia Rogers knocked down a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Lady Eagles a 20-19 halftime lead.

Both teams struggled out of the gate in the first few minutes of the second half as they both committed turnovers. The Lady Eagles scored the first basket of the second half on a steal and a lay-up by Rogers, but Deerfield Windsor responded with a basket by Joyner Tyson giving the Lady Knights a 22-21 lead. At that point, both teams were able to create turnovers and failed to score.

With a little over two minutes to play and the Lady Knights trailing 29-24, Deerfield Windsor broke the Lady Eagles’ full court press and scored on a lay-up by Patsy Cartee. However, at that point, Terrell Academy went on a 6-0 run to close out the third quarter, leading 35-26.

Both teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. With 3:30 to go and Terrell Academy up 42-34, King was fouled and hit both free throws, cutting the deficit to six. The Lady Knights got the ball back and cut the lead to 42-38 on a basket from Tyson.

The Lady Knights trimmed the lead to three points with two minutes left in the game on a free throw by Alondra Calhoun.

Then with 14 seconds to play and the Lady Knights trailing 45-41, King nailed a 3-pointer to cut Terrell’s lead to 45-44 and hopes for a come-from-behind victory were in the air.

The Knights put on a full court press and forced a turnover, giving them one last chance. However, King’s shot attempt with two seconds left was blocked by McCook, securing the win for Terrell Academy.

DEERFIELD-WINDSOR BOYS 70, TERRELL ACADEMY 62: Deerfield-Windsor (2-5) was hoping to get off to a good start by getting a victory in their region opener against Terrell Academy. This game marked the return of the starting point guard Trey Young, who recovered from surgery from a partially torn meniscus. Behind Chandler Matthews’ 16 points to lead the Knights, Deerfield Windsor started region play off right.

“I thought our kids played awful hard particularly on the defensive end. Something that we haven’t been doing lately,” Deerfield Windsor boys coach Gordy Gruhl said. “We made some critical stops tonight when we had to. Something that we haven’t been doing in the past.”

Terrell Academy was led by Raleigh Carlson, who scored 30 points to lead all scorers. Connor Walsh also had 13 points for the Eagles.

Both teams played a tightly contested first quarter. With Terrell Academy up 6-5 with a little over five minutes to go, Deerfield Windsor’s Antonio Watts nailed a 3-pointer. Both teams exchanged the lead in the next few minutes. Then the Knights went on a 10-0 run to close out the first quarter, spurred on by a basket by Ryan Toole and a 3-pointer by Matthews.

Late in the first half, the Eagles were able to cut the Knights’ lead to 35-30, but Deerfield Windsor went on a 4-1 run before Walsh nailed a 3-pointer, cutting Deerfield Windsor’s halftime lead to 39-34.

Mathews scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half points, nine of them off 3-pointers.

Both teams traded baskets for the first four minutes of the third quarter and Deerfield Windsor enjoyed a 45-39 before Gruhl called a time out. At that point, the Knights went on a 6-3 run and built their lead back up to nine with a little over a minute to go in the third quarter.

However, the Eagles did not go away quietly as Walsh knocked down another three, cutting the Knights’ lead to 51-45.

The Knights went on a 7-2 run to start the fourth quarter. However, the Eagles responded with a run of their own and cut the Knights lead to 59-55 with just under four minutes to play.

Then with 3:25 to go, Matthews drove to the basket and missed the lay-up, but was fouled, making one of two free throws. The Eagles cut Deerfield Windsor’s lead to 60-57 on a steal and basket by Carlson. However, that would be as close as Terrell Academy would get as the Knights went on a 10-5 run to close out the game.

The Knights had two other players in double figures — Ethan Shellhaas and Christian Wallace each had 12 points to help the Knights to victory.