Lady Eagles drop Henryville

A comeback effort and a robust free-throw shooting percentage led Lanesville to score its first win in Southern Athletic Conference play of the year.
An Emma Bays 3-pointer gave the Lady Eagles the lead late, ushering Lanesville to a 34-33 win at Henryville Thursday night.
‘We finally worked hard on the defensive end of the floor,’ Lanesville coach Kevin Smith said. ‘We made sure we keyed on their 3-point shooter (Emily) Hollis, and we made sure we knew where she was at all times. It was a team defensive effort that I hope carries over to each game we play. We also competed on the boards and actually out rebounded them for the game. The big key was we never got down and we got more confident that we can compete with teams.’
Henryville led 17-13 at the half and carried the lead into the final quarter.
Down 28-23 in the final frame, Lanesville gained momentum when Brooklynn Keinsley stole a ball, later leading to Emma Bays drawing a foul. Nailing both freebies, the Lady Hornets’ lead trimmed to three.
Making a defensive adjustment during a time-out, Lanesville saw Henryville begin to stall out the game. Pulling the ball out with six minutes to go, Lanesville elected to allow the clock to tick down to two minutes before going man to man.
Henryville was able to score against the man defense when Hollis scored on a put-back. Keinsley came back for the Lady Eagles, drawing contact on a made basket, eventually converting the 3-point play.
Defensively, the Lady Eagles answered the call on Henryville’s next possession to get the ball back. Lanesville’s Jessica DeWeese drew the game even at 30 when she netted a pair from the free-throw line.
The game didn’t stay tied long as Henryville’s Jasmine Harrell made two free throws after drawing a foul on a shot attempt.
Smith said he drew up a play for Keinsley out of a time-out, but Henryville defended the option and left an opening for Bays. Pulling the trigger from beyond the arc, Bays drained the triple to give Lanesville a 33-32 edge.
Sticking to the man defense, Keinsley came up with a steal and was eventually fouled. Making one of two freebies, Henryville had a shot to tie when Harrell got deep in the lane and drew a foul with three seconds remaining. Harrell made the first but missed the second. Keinsley pulled down the rebound, securing the road victory.
‘Emma Bays has been improving playing point guard and played excellent defense,’ Smith said. ‘Emma Zeller came off the bench and gave us good minutes and aggressiveness. Brooklynn was aggressive at both ends of the floor and played one of her best all-around games this year. But everyone that played tonight came in and gave us great minutes, just a total team effort.’
The Lady Eagles were 14 of 17 at the free-throw line, including a 7-of-9 effort from DeWeese.
Keinsley led the team in scoring with 14 followed by DeWeese with nine.
The win moved the Lady Eagles to the .500 mark at 3-3. They will return home tomorrow (Thursday) to face SAC foe Borden at 7:30 p.m.