Gallery by Karen Akers
These are not ideal times for the Shady Spring girls basketball team.
With leading scorer Kierra Richmond likely out until sectional play in three weeks, the Tigers needed someone to step up and fill the scoring void.
Wednesday night when Shady Spring welcome county rival Independence to town, senior Brooklyn Gibson was that player.
Scoring 14 points in the first half Gibson was the catalyst for a 36-14 halftime lead that turned into a 65-22 win on Senior night.
“We have played hard all season. We have played and practiced hard with Kierra and played hard without her,” head coach Brandon Bennett said. “This group really goes at it. Sometimes when you have a player as good as Kierra, people don’t see the little things that are happening around her.”
“Kellie Adkins and Brooklyn Gibson do a lot of important things that don’t show up in the stat book. Braylie Wiseman has been getting a bunch of rebounds. Kylee Barnes has really got the ball up and down the floor for us. The girls are ready to play basketball.”
The Tigers were true to Bennett’s words.
After a slow start, Gibson drilled the first of four 3-pointers in the first half to give the Tigers the lead for good at 4-3.
Kylee Barnes followed with a baseline floater before freshman Kendra Pizzino drilled a 3-ball off an offensive rebound by Wiseman.
As the clock approached the one-minute mark of the first quarter, Gibson dropped another long ball for a 12-3 lead.
“The past two games we have played really solid defense. Tonight we kind of reverted back to our old ways,” Independence head coach Mark Cuthbert said. “Hopefully we can get out of that tomorrow night against Montcalm.”
A basket from Chloe Honaker broke the Shady spurt, but the Tigers scored twice more in the last 24 seconds for a 16-5 lead after the first eight minutes.
After a score by the home team to open the second period, Alyssa Daniels converted a 3-point play after being fouled on a drive to the basket.
Back-to-back scores from Pizzino and Wiseman pushed the lead to 14 points where it stood with just under two minutes to play until halftime.
Baskets from Barnes and Wiseman, along with two deep balls from Gibson, the last to beat the buzzer, gave Shady a 22-point lead at the break.
“It was Senior Night and we wanted to get all of our seniors out there on the floor because some of them hadn’t played a lot this year,” Bennett said. ‘We were able to switch up our defenses and everyone reacted well to it.”
Gibson ended the night with 16 points, while the young freshman Pizzino nailed three triples in the second half to finish with 14 points. Barnes had eight and senior Brook Lipford scored six.
“We were hoping maybe we would could save some of those shots for tomorrow,” Bennett said, jokingly. “We have a tough schedule coming up. We play PikeView tomorrow then Summers (County) and (Herbert) Hoover next week. Hopefully Brooklyn and Kendra can knock some down then.”
Daniels led the Patriots with a game-high 18 points.
“I think there has just been a lot of growing pains with so many new girls out there playing big-time basketball this year for the first time,” Cuthbert said. “Shady is a really good team and I think we just played a little timid tonight.”
While no coach wants to see his top scorer go down with an injury, Bennett says his team is trying look at the situation in a positive light.
“Some kids are getting more time and some are being forced to do some things that maybe they didn’t have to do before when Kierra is in the game,” Bennett said. “We feel like when we roll into sectionals, hopefully we are going to be a little deeper and more skilled because of this.”
I: 5 9 3 5 – 22
SS: 16 20 11 18 – 65
Independence
Sarah Bragg 1, Nikki Jarrell 1, Chloe Honaker 2, Alyssa Daniels 18. Totals: 7 5-14 22.
Shady Spring
Brooklyn Gibson 16, Kellie Adkins 4, Kylee Barnes 8, Braylie Wiseman 4, Kendra Pizzino 14, Brooke Lipford 6, Austyn Barnes 2, Mattea Huffman 4, Gracie McCallister 1, Jenna Webb 2. Totals: 25 7-14 65.
3-pointers – I: 2 (Daniels 2); SS: 8 (Gibson 4, Pizzino 4).
