Titans sink against Admirals 

The Mercer County Titans girls basketball team (4-1)  recorded their first loss of the season to the Danville Lady Admirals (3-1) Tuesday, Dec. 14.

Danville’s Tyliah Bradshaw started the game with two straight steals and turned one into an easy layup in transition, 0-2. Lindsay Jessie had two quick blocks in the paint to stop the Admiral’s attack and finished at the rim on the other end to even up the score, 2-2. 

Danville hit two quick shots in a row and Mercer answered back with two straight 3-pointers, one from Teigh Yeast assisted by Sara Dunn and another from Dunn off an inbound pass, 8-6. The teams traded layups to end the first quarter of play with the Admirals leading, 10-12. 

Bradshaw started the second quarter with another steal and uncontested layup, but Mercer answered back with a Hope Lanham triple, 13-14. Dunn made a good play to find Timberlynn Yeast cutting to the basket for an easy bucket, 17-18. The Admirals hit a contested three to keep their lead, 17-21. The Titans answered with Lanham making a good pass in transition to Timberlynn Yeast for a layup, 19-21. 

The Ads started to pull away with hot outside shooting and second shot opportunities to go on a 10 to two run. Timberlynn Yeast was able to get two quick baskets with a smooth mid range jumper and a steal that she turned into an easy layup, 25-31. Danville had the last shot of the half which they hit for another two points to lead by eight going into the break, 25-33.

Mercer’s struggles continued with Danville starting the second half with a 3-pointer, a steal for an easy layup and another layup to extend their lead, 25-40. Timberlynn Yeast broke the Titans scoring drought with a smooth layup, 27-40. After a Bradshaw basket and 1, Timberlynn Yeast went hard to the basket on two straight trips down the court to get Mercer four points, 33-45.

Jessie got a tough floater to go from the elbow, but couldn’t get the free throw to go, but Dunn got the rebound and was fouled on her put back shot. Dunn made one of two free throws and Mercer was able to get the rebound again with Lanham coming away with it, but they turned it over shortly after, 36-47. 

Titans got a much needed defensive stop and Timberlynn Yeast drove toward the paint and looked to be fouled on her made layup, but the refs called a charge on the play which really killed Mercer’s momentum as they were about to cut the lead to single digits. 

The Admirals hit a triple their next time down the court to go up 14 points. The quarter ended with Dunn getting an offensive rebound and follow up lay up and Jessie making another shot from the post, 42-52. 

Danville started the final quarter with a six point run all coming off layups, 42-58. Timberlynn Yeast drew a foul and made one of two free throws and on the next trip down the court she found Lanham in the corner for a 3-pointer, 46-58. The Titans couldn’t get anything to fall in desperation mode and Danville played keep away for the majority of the quarter to run out the clock, 49-62.

The Titans struggled to win the turnover battle with Danville out hustling them in the steals category which transitioned to easy layups. The Admirals did the majority of their damage in the paint with 46 points coming from within the arc. The Titans only scored seven points in the final frame with many of their shots being quick threes to try to get back into the game and Danville was able to prolong their possessions with ball movement to kill the clock. 

Head Coach Hayley Spivey  thoughts on the game were, “the game was competitive, I thought we struggled offensively against their defense, especially in the second half of the game.  This is a good game for us early in the season and allows us a chance to see what we need to work on moving forward.” 

Stats

Team: Total field goal percentage 38.2%, Total 3-point percentage 17.4%, Total free throw percentage 33.3%. 

Scoring: Timberlynn Yeast 17, Dunn 9, Teigh Yeast 9, Lanham 8, Jessie 6.

Rebounding: Dunn 10, Timberlynn Yeast 7, Lanham 6, Jessie 6, Teigh Yeast 3, McGinnis 1.