IRONDALE – Justin Haynie would rather his Clay-Chalkville Cougars would play all 32 minutes. He’d rather not have to come back from large deficits to pull out wins.
But after rallying to beat Huffman in the Homewood Thanksgiving Tournament and charging back from a double-figure deficit at Shades Valley Monday night, the Lady Cougars coach can’t be displeased with his team’s 7-1 record heading into Friday’s contest at Hewitt-Trussville.
Clay beat Valley 46-41. Raven Omar scored 14, Erica Lockhart added 11 and Alex Johnson, who had first-half foul trouble, scored nine and controlled the defensive boards down the stretch.
“I guess it’s a good thing, but we need to be sure we’re playing both halves of basketball from now on,” Haynie said. “It’s a little stressful.”
Shades Valley was shooting well against the Lady Cougars’ man, so a switch to zone slowed the Lady Mounties’ pace. The Lady Cougars went to the press and forced some turnovers as well. A 30-20 halftime deficit was trimmed to 37-36 by the start of the fourth quarter and the Lady Cougars pulled away late.
“(Shades Valley) scored 20 points in the first quarter and only scored 11 points in the second half,” Haynie said. “Made some adjustments later in the game and they worked out. I think our conditioning is the best it’s been. We’ve conditioned more this year than we have in the past and I think it’s made us a little fresher toward the end of the game. It’s a combination of things. It’s working well for us and I’m liking it.”
Clay-Chalkville plays at Hewitt-Trussville on Friday at 6 p.m.
Haynie and the Lady Cougars respect Hewitt, but he and his team stay on an even keel regardless of opponent. The most important games are still the area games, he said.
This will be the only meeting of the season between Clay and Hewitt.
He felt his team learned a lot from the Homewood tournament, which they lost in the finals 64-55 to the host Lady Patriots.
“I felt like we learned a lot,” Haynie said. “Played some different styles, and I think we can play against teams with different styles. The Homewood game was a nine-point game but it was close. If you can play with Homewood you can play with anybody. Facing adversity like that, getting behind against Huffman and pulling it out, I think it’ll help us out, I think it helped us out against Shades Valley.”
Hewitt-Trussville girls: The Lady Huskies blasted Hueytown 60-24 on Monday at Hueytown and whipped Pell City 59-31 Tuesday night. They host archrival Clay-Chalkville on Friday at 6 p.m.
Pinson Valley girls: The Lady Indians traveled to Pelham and beat the Lady Panthers 54-41 on Tuesday.
Center Point girls: The Lady Eagles whipped Midfield 69-51 on Monday to improve to 3-3.