HENDERSONVILLE – Despite a sluggish start from the Gallatin Lady Wave, Tuesday night’s critical District 9-AAA contest ended in their favor, 54-50, thanks in large part to stellar defensive play.
The Lady Wave found themselves down 14-0 after the first quarter and 21-5 nearly 16 minutes into the game.
However, a 10-2 run to close out the final two minutes of the half brought the Lady Wave to within striking distance, 23-15.
“We knew we were not going to get that 15 back in a minute, but we can chip away at it,” Gallatin head coach Jerry Landers said of the halftime deficit and slow start. “We’ve been preaching for a long time to get mentally tough and I think we showed some of that tonight. Once we got it down to eight at the break, we wanted to win the third quarter by as many as we did the second and then carry that to the fourth.”
Defensively the Lade Wave play great team defensive basketball, but it is hard to overlook the play of Janaya Newsom. One of their best defenders, Newsom routinely put Beech in bad positions in the second half resulting in easy baskets for the Green and Gold.
“Her feet are unreal,” Landers said. “Her ability to create gaps and her understanding of how low she needs to be, how quick she is, she creates a lot of problems for point guards and we feed off that.”
Gallatin tied the game at 30-30 in the third quarter following a Newsom three-point play the hard way, then followed that momentum shifter with a 9-4 run for their biggest lead of the game.
The final three minutes saw two ties, including 50-50 with 27 seconds left following a Carson Sisk layup.
Following a missed Gallatin shot, senior Jeremia Montgomery pulled down the biggest offensive rebound of the game before being fouled and sent to the free throw line with 7.9 seconds remaining.
Montgomery sank her free throws, plus two more to seal the victory and the 7-2 record for Gallatin in league play.
The Lady Wave are back at home Friday night for a huge game against third-place Green Hill while Beech travels to Wilson Central.
District 9-AAA girls standings
Lebanon (10-0)
Gallatin (7-2)
Green Hill (5-3)
Beech (5-4)
Hendersonville (4-4)
Station Camp (4-6)
Portland (3-7)
Wilson Central (2-7)
Mt. Juliet (1-8)
Box Score:
Gallatin (54): Jeremia Montgomery 15, Talor Crenshaw 7, A’Niya Boone 6, Janaya Newsom 8, Maggie Hale 8, Je’Leah Cole 5, Ed’Niya Wilks 5.
Beech (50): Bri Ellis 24, Laci Walmer 10, Christa Dean 6, Jada Jones 4, Natasia Jones 4, Carson Sisk 2.
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