by tate russell
sun sports writer
The Chuckey-Doak girls used a combination of pressure in the back court and a quick zone defense to defeat cross-county rival West Greene 58-44 Tuesday night.
The District 2-AA contest served as 'Pink Night' in Afton as the school supported breast cancer awareness efforts.
Chuckey-Doak improved to 10-11 overall with the win, but more importantly 6-2 in the league standings.
"I thought we played well," Chuckey-Doak head coach Beth Frye said. "The girls came on, and they played real hard there at the end to get the win."
Hailey Taylor found her touch, scoring 18 points including three from behind the arc to lead the Lady Knights.
Chuckey-Doak jumped out to an early 10-point lead largely because of its defensive effort which allowed only six points in the opening period. The Lady Knights' 2-3 zone collapsed on Charlotte Murphy, sending a help-side defender to slow the Lady Buffs' center every time she received the ball on the block.
Murphy, who is the focus of West Greene's offense, was held to six points in the first half.
"Obviously when you play West Greene you're going to focus on Charlotte, she's a phenomenal player," Frye said, "We tried to limit her touches and when she did get touches we tried to make them difficult on her."
West Greene (3-15 overall, 0-7 district) held pace with Chuckey-Doak in the second quarter - led by Kristen Johnson with seven points - as the Lady Buffs went into the half down 28-19. Johnson scored 14 points on the evening.
In the third quarter, West Greene closed the gap to five points when Johnson hit a three from the top of the key, but Andi Lamb banked in a triple of her own for Chuckey-Doak in quick succession.
Hannah Riddle stretched the lead back to 10 when she went coast to coast twice off a pair of steals that she converted for easy layups.
Murphy would hit a jumper from the right wing to cut the lead to seven as the third quarter closed. Murphy had 12 points in the second half and led West Greene with 18 in the contest.
In the final period West Greene had its opportunities but went 4-9 from the free throw line and missed on the front end of a one-and-one twice. Taylor Campbell was integral in keeping the Lady Knights in front, scoring seven points in the fourth quarter.
