Westover girls defeat Dougherty, 50-36

ALBANY — A second-half full-court press helped the Westover Lady Patriots open up a tight basketball game and post a 50-36 win over the Dougherty Lady Trojans Tuesday night at Westover.

Late in the game, Westover led 37-35 and outscored the Lady Trojans 13-1 down the stretch.

The Lady Trojans led 25-19 at the half before the Lady Patriots started a full-court to give Westover an 8-2 run and tie the game at 27-27. Dougherty figured out the press and pulled out to a lead again, but Westover battled back and took over when they pushed the lead to 41-36 on a putback by La’Daja Caldwell.

The Westover defense was doing everything it could to keep the ball from getting inside to Dougherty’s Jacquelyn Buchanan and forcing the Lady Trojans to shoot from outside. Dougherty’s top three-point shooter, Jatiana Chambers, was hobbling with a foot injury and was sidelined for part of the second half.

Senior guard Rayven Thurston led the Lady Patriots along with Caldwell and Lundyn Walker. Buchanan topped the scorers for Dougherty with 14 and Chambers added nine.

Joe WhitfieldJoeWhitfield[email protected]