WEST POINT, Ala. – After winning their area tournament earlier this week, the West Point Lady Warriors were back home Friday night to host a Sub-Regional matchup against Wenonah. The Lady Warriors went into the locker room with a 21-point lead at halftime and fended off a second-half push from Wenonah to secure a 59-47 win and punch their ticket to this year’s Northwest Regional Tournament. West Point Head Coach John Welborn was proud of the way his team held off the Dragons in the second half and is pleased to see several different players stepping up for the Lady Warriors in this postseason run.
“They came back and made it close in the third quarter but we kind of stretched it out there at the end and got it back to about 17 and then in the fourth quarter all we had to do was hang on. That No. 2 for them is good and we just had to hang on and take care of the basketball because it’s chaos, just pure chaos,” Welborn said. “We’re playing pretty good defense overall, we‘ve got to stay out of foul trouble and things like that, but we’re playing pretty good defense. Tonight, we had Kylee Quinn and Caitlee Simmons come off the bench and play great, so we’ve got some girls stepping up when we do get in foul trouble. It was a good night.”
Laklin Shadix knocked down a three and Jaelyn Faulkner laid one in to give West Point a 5-1 start in the opening period. Two more baskets by Laklin Shadix made it a 9-5 game and a pair of buckets from Liberty Shadix stretched the lead to 13-8 with three minutes remaining in the first. Hallie Wheeler buried back to back three-pointers in the final two minutes of the first quarter to give the Lady Warriors a 19-8 lead going into the second.
Baskets by Camryn Faulkner and Kylee Quinn kept West Point ahead 23-8 early in the second quarter and Jaelyn Faulkner laid another one in to make it 25-10 midway through the period. Liberty Shadix scored inside and Laklin converted an and-one play at the line to extend the lead to 30-12 with two minutes to play in the first half. Camryn Faulkner put one in off the glass and hit a pair of free throws to make it 34-12 late in the second and Liberty Shadix laid one in with just 30 seconds on the clock to put the Lady Warriors in front 36-15 at halftime.
Camryn Faulkner and Liberty Shadix each scored to maintain a 20-point lead for West Point early in the third quarter, but Wenonah was able to cut the lead to 41-29 later in the period. Camryn Faulkner laid one in to make it a 43-29 game with just over a minute remaining in the third and Quinn and Laklin Shadix each split a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds of the period to give West Point a 45-30 lead with eight minutes to play.
Quinn scored six of the first eight points for the Lady Warriors in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 53-34 with around three minutes remaining. West Point continued to make things difficult for Wenonah on the defensive end, allowing the Lady Warriors to pull away and Wheeler and Liberty Shadix each sank a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds of the game to cap a 59-47 win for West Point.
Liberty and Laklin Shadix each led the Lady Warriors with 14 points in the win. Camryn Faulkner finished with 10, Quinn added nine and Wheeler posted eight.
West Point will take on Jasper Friday at the AHSAA Northwest Regional Tournament at Wallace State Friday.
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