By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – It has been quite the year for Tonya Hunter and her Hewitt Trussville Lady Huskies leading into the postseason. With the area tournament looming, the Huskies welcomed Central Phenix City to Bryant Bank Arena Saturday in a game that had to be rescheduled from Thursday night. The change did not make any difference to the Lady Huskies, who walked away with the 9-point victory.
With one of their leading scorers, April Hooks, sitting out with an injury, it would take tenacious defense and scoring from other ladies on the team to make up for the missing player.
The game started a bit slow for each team. The Red Devils opened the game with just 6 points in the first quarter as the Husky defense dominated. On the offensive side of the game, Hewitt would score 11 points in the first, led by Audre Benson with 6 points and Jordan Hunter with 3.
In the second quarter, the Hewitt defense would continue to play well, allowing just 9 points in the period. Offensively, they would outscore the Red Devils by just 3 points, scoring 12 of their own. Lilly Gray would get in on the scoring, leading the team with 4 points in the quarter to go with 3 each from Hunter and Benson. Hewitt would go into the locker room with a 23-15 lead.
Coming out of the break, Central would look to put a damper on the great season that the Lady Huskies are having by scoring 10 points in the period while clamping down on the high-powered Hewitt offense and holding them to just 4 points. Hunter would be the sole scorer in the quarter with all 4 of the Huskies’ points. The score heading into the final quarter would be 27-23 with Hewitt holding onto a narrow lead.
Great teams play well when they need to, even when things may not be going their way and that is precisely what the Lady Huskies did in the fourth quarter, specifically Jordan Hunter. The Hewitt defense allowed the Red Devils to score 12 points in the quarter. On offense, the Huskies scored 16 to close out the game with a 43-34 win and to cap off a wonderful regular season.
Jordan Hunter had a fantastic night, scoring 21 points to lead all scorers on the night, as well as 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals. Audre Benson would add 13 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and 4 steals for the night as well.
“This team performs at whatever cost,” said Tonya Hunter, Hewitt Trussville’s Head Coach. “I love this about them. We ended this regular season tonight on our home floor with a win. We must focus at a high level on this playoff run.”
The Lady Huskies finish the regular season with a 23-6 record, 4-0 in the area. They will host the area tournament this week, starting with a round-1 game against Spain Park on Tuesday night.