WEST POINT — Heading into the half on Thursday night, the Heritage Academy and Oak Hill Academy girls basketball teams had scored a combined 20 points, including just five total points in the second quarter alone.
The Patriots held a 12-8 lead, but to that point, no team had gotten a real edge in the game, with a number of missed shots and missed opportunities on both ends of the floor.
However, the third quarter was a completely different story as the Pats went on to outscore the Raiders, 16-9, opening up a double-digit lead en route to a 39-25 victory.
“I think that our defensive intensity picked up,” Heritage Academy head coach Moe Reed said. “Coming out of halftime, we talked about that, really harping on the turnovers that we got and turning those into easy baskets.”
The Pats (2-1) missed a number of layups off the backs of turnovers and a number of high-percentage shots inside the perimeter in the first half.
Those missed opportunities turned into a number of points off turnovers and fast-break points for Heritage beginning in the third quarter.
Oak Hill suffered much the same fate, but unlike Heritage Academy, the Raiders weren’t able to get things going in the second half and came out flat. Heritage took advantage and turned the second half into a track meet.
“We lost our momentum and couldn’t get back into the ballgame,” Oak Hill Academy head coach Terry Walters said. “We didn’t hit our shots, didn’t rotate right on defense, just a bunch of little things that we’re going to work on.”
Not only did Heritage Academy really get the ball rolling in the second half, but the Pats rode the great play of senior Lucy Sharp, who nearly out-scored Oak Hill on her own in the win, scoring 19 points.
Her impact was felt early, scoring 10 of the Pats’ 12 points in the first half before players like Reagan Merchant and Chloe Boyd helped to take over in the second half, scoring a combined 12 points in the final 16 minutes of play.
Sharp herself still put up seven points in the second half, with all five of her fourth-quarter points coming from the foul line, where she shot 6 of 7 overall.
“I was taking every chance I got, taking the open shot, driving to the basket,” Sharp said. “I knew we needed points, so I was willing to drive in to get anything, get the bucket, and-one, whatever it was.”
In what was a game that started out sloppy for both teams, Heritage did just enough to keep itself ahead in the first half and regrouped well for a second-half surge that was needed to help build future momentum for this season.
A nine-day gap between games didn’t end up fazing the Pats much, but including Thursday’s game, they’ll be playing five games in a span of 12 days.
The regular season is coming quickly, but it sounds like Heritage is more than ready for it.
“We need to continue to keep our confidence up and building each other up,” Sharp said. “Working on our defense, practicing like we play in games and staying together.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.