But coach Don Woodfield’s squad was still able to grind out a 39-29 victory and improve to 3-0 in the Triad Athletic Conference, and 12-2 overall.
“I think the key was our girls playing really tough defense, especially our two guards,” Woodfield said afterward. “It was probably our best defensive effort all year. To come in their home and beat them by 10 was a very good accomplishment.”
Woodfield mixed things up for the Wildcats by employing five different defenses during the contest. Falcon guards Kelsey Hukee and Margaret Cross each played all 32 minutes.
The visitors were never headed after Kristen Stewart poked the opening tip-off to teammate Kat Davis, who, in one motion, received the ball and lofted a pass over the defense to Cross for an easy layup. Cross, a 41-percent shooter from behind the arc this season, went on to drain her 40th and 41st treys in the first half, helping the team take a 29-13 lead to the intermission.
Davis, wearing a mask to protect a broken nose suffered in a game against North Moore in The Pilot Cup tournament in November, contributed six points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals in the opening half.
“I’ve gotten used to it, it doesn’t bother me at all,” the Falcons’ only senior said of the protective apparatus. “Our athletic director (Steve Dahl) has cut out some of the pads so I can see. My peripheral vision is slightly hindered, but it’s not too bad. I love it now, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I take breaking my nose as a blessing. My teammates say it makes me intimidating. I love it.”
The Wildcats got their final points of the half on a 27-foot three by Whitney Addington. Stewart, freshman Syd McIlwain and Davis were dominating the smaller Wildcats defensively around the basket.
But after surrendering a 10-point lead before defeating the Wildcats in the Fayetteville Academy tournament last month, Woodfield was still wary of the three-point threat.
“We went out of our 2-3 zone into a 1-3-1,” he said. “That stopped their three-point shooters, or at least we got out there a little quicker.”
As the chess match evolved, the Wildcats (6-9, 1-2) were also able to take the three away from the Falcons. That opened things up for Stewart inside, but the Falcons’ leading scorer on the season was successful on only two of 10 second-half field goal attempts. She finished with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The Falcons were 4-for-22 overall and scored only 10 points in the last two periods.
Wildcat guard Jenny Kim scored 11 of the 16 second-half points for the home team, but thanks to the overall defensive effort of the Falcons, they never got closer than the final margin of 10.
The victory was the first for Davis in her four years of traveling to the High Point school. In a season that includes two tournament victories, one of them The Pilot Cup, she and her younger teammates are not only playing, but talking like a veteran squad.
“When we come to practice,” says Hukee, a junior, “we’re having fun of course. But when it comes down to it, we work as hard as we can. You can tell that in a game.
“Plus our team is very close this year — especially because of the tournaments we’ve played in. We’re all willing to make sacrifices for each other.”
Cross finished the game with a team-high 13 points to go with four steals and two assists. She is second on the team in scoring with a 13.5 average. Stewart is first at 15.2 and also leads in the rebounding and blocks categories at 9.9 and 4.4, respectively. McIlwain is second in rebounds at 8.0. Hukee is the assist leader, contributing 3.9 per game.
Woodfield continues to coach hurt. He has an arm in a sling because of a separated shoulder and damage to his rotator cuff suffered in a fall in early December.
Tonight, the Falcons entertain Calvary Baptist Day School at 5:30 p.m. on Homecoming Night.
O’Neal 16 13 5 5 — 39
Westchester 6 7 8 8 — 29
O’Neal — Hukee 1 1-2 3, Cross 5 1-4 13, Davis 4 0-0 9, Stewart 5 0-4 10, McIlwain 2 0-0 4, Thornton 0 0-0 0, Akinosho 0 0-0 0, Menear 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 2-10 39.
Westchester — Carr 0 0-0 0, Finch 2 1-4 5, Gay 1 0-0 2, Kim 6 0-0 13, Addington 2 2-2 7, Peters 1 0-0 2, Plyer 0 0-0 0, Stec 0 0-0 0. Totals — 12 3-6 29.
Three-point goals: O’Neal 3 (Cross 2, Davis); Westchester 2 (Kim, Addington).
