HV says 'no' to Volunteer

Photo By Kristen Luther The Lady Warriors' Mandy Byrd pushes the ball inside.

By Wes Holtsclaw
STAR STAFF
wholtsclaw@starhq.com
Chucky was unstoppable, but the Happy Valley Warriors knocked the Volunteer Falcons from the top of the ladder for the time being.
The Warriors overcame off-court distractions, Chucky Lindholm's 34-point game and played as a team in a tight 79-72 victory at Bayless Gymnasium.
"It was a big win for us because they beat us down there and they came here sitting on top of the roost in the conference," said Happy Valley coach Charlie Bayless.
"I thought we ran the ball well and ran the offense pretty good," he said. "I put my second bunch in there and we had a dry spell and they caught up with me."
"Lindholm's a fine ballplayer and tough to guard," he added. "This win helped us (in the conference) but we've got a hard road ahead of us. Hampton beat Elizabethton tonight, so there you go. This conference is just close."
Four Warriors reached double digits, including Todd Caldwell and John Bulla, who tallied 18 apiece. Tim Whaley's 14 and Andrew Bowman's 13 led the Warriors.
Up 18-12 at the end of the first quarter, Happy Valley saw the Falcons rally behind Lindholm, who tallied two straight buckets to tie the game at 22.
However, Happy Valley's defense provided Bulla an easy open lay-in, and with some buckets from Whaley, Bowman and Caldwell, the Warriors took a 10-point lead over Volunteer.
The Falcons got a late bucket from Jacob Frazier after a rebound to make it an eight-point game after Caldwell barely missed a half-court trey at the buzzer.
In a hotly-contested third quarter, the Warriors used strong defense in the final seconds, including a big Alex Carroll block of Lindholm to keep a 54-48 edge going into the final eight minutes.
Volunteer began the fourth quarter with a big three-point play from Lindholm to make it a three-point game.
Lindholm cut the Warrior lead to one and the Falcons stepped up their defense. So did the Warriors.
Happy Valley got Jay Hughes fouled out and Hughes responded against the official and was slapped with a technical.
Caldwell hit a pair of free throws to make it a five-point game, but Volunteer rolled two-straight buckets from J.C. Frazier and Lindholm to cut it to one for the Falcons with 4:26 remaining.
Bulla and Jacob Frazier traded off buckets, but J.C. Frazier gave the Falcons their first lead since the first quarter. Whaley and Bulla responded for the Warriors to make it six again. Lindholm missed his first free-throw at the other end and it allowed the Warriors to bounce back from the charity stripe.
A few moments later a Volunteer player was slapped with a technical and some Falcon fans got entirely out of control after the Warriors pushed their lead to eight.
One of the Falcon fans retaliated against the law enforcement officials after a rowdy group that was endangering the officials was asked to leave.
It paused the play for a few minutes as one was taken out, but the game was already decided and Happy Valley held on to win.
Jacob Frazier added 14 for the Falcons.
Lady Warriors 63
Lady Falcons 61, OT
Solid all-around play led Happy Valley to a 63-61 overtime victory at Bayless Gym.
Keila Williams had 28 points for the Lady Warriors, while Brandi Dugger added 13.
Leading 15-14 at the end of the first quarter, Happy Valley surged to a 10-point halftime (30-20) advantage as Jennifer Osborne chimed in with three points and Mandy Byrd was nothing but net on a big trey.
Williams scored 15 of Happy Valley's 30 in the frame.
Steevie Caldwell opened the third quarter with a pair of buckets for Volunteer to make it a six-point game.
Terra Whaley made Happy Valley's first four points of the half to hold onto the lead.
Keila Williams dropped a pair of buckets; however, Volunteer stayed in the mix of things with a three-point play from Caldwell slicing it to four.
Happy Valley took advantage of strong rebounding and turnovers in order to stay out on top with a nine-point lead going into the final stanza.
Dugger and Jacklyn Talbert traded trifectas for their squads, but Volunteer slowly shot away at the Lady Warrior lead with five minutes left in the game.
The squad utilized the charity stripe after some inside fouls to gain most of their points in the quarter.
An offensive foul and technical from Whaley set up Volunteer's Caldwell with four straight free throws to make it a four-point game once more.
The Lady Falcons found success again with 2:32 left in the game when Mycah Arnold downed a trey to make it a two-point game.
Happy Valley worked the clock down and regained a four-point lead, but a Talbert lay-up and a turnover put Volunteer in good position with under a minute remaining.
A missed trey made the Lady Falcons foul and Byrd missed a pair from the line with 34 seconds remaining. Bennett and Talbert missed buckets before
Caldwell tied it around the 13-second mark.
The Lady Warriors called a timeout with 7.2 ticks left and a turnover forced overtime at 54-54.
The Lady Warriors had a hard time getting things to fall at the beginning of overtime, but took a one-point lead on a Williams free throw.
Talbert tied it up at 55 and Volunteer got a hold of some offensive rebounds to run the clock down.
However, the Lady Warriors got an inside lob and bucket out of Williams
A missed trey from Talbert put Goulds on the line after a rebound for the Warriors. Kortney Goulds dropped one and the Lady Warriors were up by four.
Goulds hit two more clutch free throws after a missed trey to make it a six-point game. A charging violation on Amber Duncan after a steal led to a trey from Ashley Bennett to make it a three-point game with 13.7 seconds remaining.
Goulds was fouled and made two free throws to make it a five-point game.
Volunteer threw the ball to Bennett out of desperation and she made a trey with 3.4 seconds left, but Williams let the clock run out and the Lady Warriors took the win.