Westover girls basketball holds off Lee County

ALBANY — Lee County High School girls basketball coach Tondra Davis stomped her feet, clapped her hands and yelled words of encouragement during the second half to her team.

The Lady Trojans played strong defensively but couldn’t overcome a sluggish second quarter Tuesday night, falling 41-28 to home-standing Westover in a non-region game.

Westover built leads as high as 14 points in the second quarter, and no matter how strong Lee County’s defense was, the Lady Patriots figured out a way to overcome, sinking seven of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

“If you’re going to secure the lead, you’ve got to knock down free throws late in the game like that,” Westover coach Lewis Smith said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well late in the fourth quarter, but we shot well from the free throw line.”

After Westover led 27-13 at halftime, Lee County cut the deficit to 10 points twice in the third quarter. Then just minutes before the third quarter ended, Katherine McConnell stole a pass, then sank a running jumper to make it 32-23 with 51 seconds left.

Westover’s Au Bre’ Ana Moore converted a running layup to open the final quarter before McConnell nailed a second jumper to make it 34-25. However, that was as close as the Lady Trojans could get as the Lady Patriots’ defensive effort cut down any attempt at a comeback.

Davis did take some positives from the game, especially the fact that her team managed to hang around in the second half after a rough second quarter.

“I felt our effort was better in the second half,” Davis said. “Like I told the girls, it’s still the preseason and we have a lot of things to work on, a lot of different sets to make sure we execute.”

Westover (2-0) was led by Achanti Layfield’s 13 points, while Moore added eight and Tiana Campbell added seven.

Lee got 10 points from Desja Johnson, while Kayla Cooper added nine and McConnell finished with eight.

Smith said he was happy with his team’s effort, especially considering the Lady Patriots shut down Lee’s major scoring threat in Maggie O’Connor.

“O’Connor was a major concern for us,” Smith said. “I thought Bryshea Jackson did an outstanding job on her. O’Connor is normally lights out.”

Westover boys pull away for victory

In the boys game, Westover shook off a pesky Lee County squad, pulling away late in third quarter and scoring an 86-65 victory.

The Patriots (2-0) were led by Alec Williams