BY DAVID KNOX
Hewitt-Trussville’s girls basketball game at Vestavia Hills started out as chilly as the near-freezing temperature outside on Tuesday night.
But the Huskies quickly turned up the heat with full-court pressure defense – never more apparent than a 21-0 fourth-quarter skunking of the host Rebels – and roared away with a 52-27 Class 7A, Area 6 win.
It completed a home-and-home sweep of Vestavia in area play.
“We want to use our defense to power our offense,” coach Tonya Hunter said. “I was very pleased with our defensive pressure. Shutting them out in the fourth quarter, I’m going to have get those girls a pizza.”
Hewitt strolled out to a 9-0 lead before Vestavia managed a basket with 2:02 left in the first quarter. The Huskies extended the lead to 11 when Gabby Hill’s bucket capped a 7-2 run late in the first half. But the Lady Rebels scrambled back, and Jessica Compton’s 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left cut the halftime lead to 20-16.
Vestavia briefly took a one-point lead on Jasmyn White’s bucket, but Bailey Berry answered with a pair of 3-pointers. The lead went back to seven before Sarah Cain hit a trey for Vestavia in the final minute for a 31-27 Hewitt lead.
Amazingly, that would be the Rebels’ final points of the night.
Morgan Kirk started the onslaught with three free throws, and then Hill scored a fastbreak bucket on a nifty pass from London Coleman, then immediately scored again after a steal.
Hewitt’s pressure forced turnover after turnover and the Huskies simply steamrolled the hosts. Kirk and Hill each had seven in the quarter.
Berry and Hill shared game-high scoring honors with 12 each. Coleman and Kirk had nine apiece.
Cain led the Rebels with nine.
The Huskie boys couldn’t duplicate the sweep in their game versus Vestavia.
Hewitt-Trussville won the previous meeting by 13 at Trussville, but it was a different story on the Rebels’ home floor as the hosts took a 55-39 win.
The Rebels shot the ball much better than in the previous meeting, rebounded defensively and broke the Huskies’ pressure defense often enough to cruise to the win.
And then there was the Rebels’ defensive effort. The Rebels held Hewitt to just two field goals in the first half – a first-quarter field goal by Damon Harper and a 3 by Harper in the final minute of the half – to build a 26-14 halftime lead.
The Rebs knocked in four treys in the half. Hewitt had some missed opportunities at the free-throw line – the Huskies were 9-of-14 – but the real culprit was the Rebels’ defense.
And once the Rebels got the lead, their deliberate style of play proved difficult for the Huskies to overcome. They pushed the 12-point lead out to 19 when Mitchell Langley nailed a 3-pointer – one of the Rebels’ six treys of the game – and Eric McCrory hit a basket with 25 seconds left in the third.
Hewitt turned up the defensive intensity in the fourth with some success, but the Rebels beat the pressure enough to maintain the lead.
Harper led the Huskies with 13 points and Josh Monski scored 11. Mac Smith led the Rebels with 11 as Vestavia placed nine players in the scoring column.
Hewitt-Trussville hosts powerful Mountain Brook in area play Friday night. The girls tip at 6 with the boys’ game to follow at 7:30.