JONESBOROUGH – Free throw shooting doomed the Chuckey-Doak girls on Wednesday afternoon in the Hardee’s Classic as the Lady Black Knights missed 22 attempts from the stripe in a 62-58 loss to Providence Academy.
“It’s tough to lose the way we lost,” Chuckey-Doak coach Kyle Donahue said. “I thought we played well enough to win, we just didn’t put ourselves in position because of free throws. That’s been our bugaboo early in the year. Turnovers and free throws have hindered us early in the season, and we have to get back to practice.”
The Lady Black Knights went 15-of-37 at the line and no player on the team shot over 50 percent. In the second half the numbers were worse as they went 2-of-12 on free tosses. Chuckey-Doak also struggled from the field shooting 33 percent and connecting on just 3-of-16 three-pointers.
“It felt like we were discombobulated on offense. It started early, but when we got the ball inside things got going better. We have to play inside out. In the second half we did a better job of creating points off of turnovers. We are better when we get out and run,” Donahue said.
The afternoon at David Crockett High School started with Providence jumping out to a 12-4 lead. In that opening stretch Kinley Painter scored seven points, but she also picked up her second foul and went to the bench.
Free-throw shooting actually got Chuckey-Doak back in the game as Providence quickly got in the bonus and the Lady Black Knights hit nine of their first 10 free tries. Chloe Kirkpatrick and Kennedy Brown were each fouled taking steals the other way and closed the gap to 12-9.
Providence ended the first quarter leading 17-13.
Painter returned to start the second quarter and nailed a triple on Providence’s first possession. A layup by Quinn Hicks pushed the lead to 24-13.
Chuckey-Doak got going when Tavyn Southerland first set up Saniah Atchison for a three-pointer and then Kirkpatrick for a backdoor layup. Brown, Atchison and Jayden Myers each went one-of-two at the charity stripe to close the gap to 24-23.
With 51 second left in the first half Southerland nailed a triple from the corner to even the score at 26-26. One free toss from Atchison gave Chuckey-Doak a brief lead at 27-26.
Over the final 18 seconds Providence got a three-pointer from Emma Honeycutt and buzzer-beating elbow jumper from Myla Johnson to go to halftime leading 31-27.
The second half started with a pair of steals by Atchison turning into a bucket of her own and one for Isabelle Karricker that tied things at 31-31.
The aggressive defense from Atchison and Southerland gave the Lady Black Knights a chance on Wednesday. They continually forced turnovers and gave Chuckey-Doak scoring opportunities in transition on a day when the half-court offense struggled to find good shots.
“Those two are going to give everything they have every night,” Donahue said. “They are seniors, and we expect them to be able to lead the group. We played tough man defense. When new Painter could be a problem and we kept throwing bodies at her. I’m proud of that defensive effort.”
Chuckey-Doak tied the game at 36-36 when Brown knocked down a jumper from the paint on an inbound play, and again at 38-38 when Layla Fox connected from the short corner.
Over the final two minutes of the third quarter Chuckey-Doak missed four free throws and Providence’s Rowan Gilner hit from behind the arc to push the lead to 47-41.
Early in the fourth quarter Chuckey-Doak figured out how to get the ball to Karricker on the block and she scored six points to close the gap to 51-49. During the same stretch Painter, who was the game’s leading scorer, fouled out.
Chuckey-Doak was able to make it a one-possession game three more times but could never get in front. Atchison got an inbound pass back with 1:37 left and hit from behind the arc to make it 58-56. Then with 13 seconds left a tipped pass found Karricker open underneath for a lay in that made it 60-58.
Chuckey-Doak could not get another shot to fall and Providence won 62-58.
Chuckey-Doak will be back in action on Friday at 12 p.m. against Johnson County in the Tournament’s seventh-place game.
Brown led Chuckey-Doak in scoring on Wednesday with 15 points, Karricker had 12 points and Atchison had 11 points.
Painter led Providence with 15 points despite sitting for long stretches, including the final 6:53. Johnson had 12, Gilner put in 10 points and Hicks and Kennady Phillips each had nine points.
