Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Lady Devils Dispatch Blevins And Genoa

Blevins's much vaunted offense was held in check by the Gurdon Lady Devils Thursday, Feb.1, as the Lady Hornets were felled 48-47.

However, it took a pair of last second free throws by Vanesha Young for Gurdon to seal the win. In fact, free throws almost cost the Lady Devils the game, as they missed the front end of several one-and-ones and had problems connecting from the stripe down the stretch.

The Lady Devils were sent to the line twice in the last 13 seconds of the game. The first trip yielded nothing, but Blevins threw the ball away and fouled Young with 0:05.8 seconds showing on the clock.

The game began with the teams battling evenly up and down the court.

The Lady Hornets opened in a 1-2-2 zone, switching to a 2-3, while Gurdon pretty much stayed in a 2-3 zone all night.

Blevins pressed, as it has done all season, but didn't have much luck against the Lady Devils.

Scoring was also back and forth as neither could pull away from the other. Blevins, though, did lead most of the period, only to see Gurdon knot the score at 10-10 at the end.

Blevin coach Shalon Crow was hit with a technical foul with 2:52 showing in the first after leaving the coaches box to dispute an official's call.

Period two saw Gurdon score first, but miss a free throw after being fouled in the act of shooting.

The Lady Devils managed to build a 17-12 lead against Blevins, but watched it evaporate as the Lady Hornets rallied and went up 21-17 at the break.

Blevins had possession with two minutes left in the half and held the ball for 90 seconds before being fouled and sent to the line.

The second half was pretty much the same as the first half. Both squads played hard, battled for every loose ball and battered one another in the paint.

In fact, play was so physical it was amazing no one was hurt. When wrestling for the ball, it wasn't unusual for one of the players (regardless of which team) to be tossed to the floor.

At the end of three, the Lady Hornets held a 32-29 lead, but couldn't put the Lady Devils away as they had other teams throughout the year.

Blevins opened the fourth quarter with the ball, only to have it stolen and Gurdon score, cutting the lead to 32-31.

From there on, the game got even more physical.

The game was knotted at 33-33 with 6:39 showing, and Gurdon was in the bonus.

The Lady Devils scored the next four points, stealing the ball then forcing a turnover.

With 4:23 left in the game, Gurdon led 39-33, but was also unable to dispatch the Lady Hornets as they would have liked to do.

Blevins fought back, cutting the lead to 39-38 with 3:48 left, only to see the Lady Devils push their lead to 42-38 with 2:51 showing.

Then the race was on.

Blevins narrowed the gap to 42-41 with 59 seconds to go, and managed to take a 47-46 lead with 12.8 seconds on the clock.

Gurdon spent the rest of its offensive time at the charity stripe, hitting two of four free throws to take a 48-47 lead.

Blevins had one last chance with 5.2 seconds showing, but lost the ball, and, subsequently, the game.

GURDON 52

GENOA CENTRAL 45

An ugly win is still a win, and Gurdon's Lady Devils were more than happy to take an ugly 52-45 win against Genoa Central Tuesday, Jan. 30.

What made the game ugly was the unforced errors by both teams. For much of the contest, it was questionable if either squad wanted to win.

Gurdon opened the game by winning the tip and scoring first. From there, it was almost four minutes before the Lady Devils scored again.

At the 4:45 mark, Genoa scored its first point of the game on a free throw to make it 4-1.

But, much of the credit for Genoa's problems could be attributed to Gurdon's smothering zone defense.

The Lady Devils made sure the Lady Dragons never got in a rhythm offensively.The end result was a 10-7 lead for Gurdon at the end of one.

Period two began with both teams having scoring opportunities, but neither taking advantage of them. Much iron was mined early on.

However, Genoa did manage to cut Gurdon's lead to 13-12 with 5:53 to go.

Gurdon was hit with a technical foul in the second quarter for having a player in with the wrong number. Genoa made both free throws and went on to take a 23-18 halftime lead.

Trailing didn't set well with the Lady Devils as they came out in the third and scored four quick points to cut the lead to 23-22.

However, mistakes continued to pile up on both sides as neither was able to maintain control of the ball effectively.

The Lady Devils, though, were able to hit better from the field and managed to take a 32-31 lead into the final eight minutes of the game.

Gurdon got more aggressive in the fourth quarter, and extended the lead to 36-31 before Genoa knew what happened.

But, the Lady Dragons weren't ready to throw in the towel and fought back to cut the lead to 38-37 with 5:07 to go.

The Lady Devils then reeled off six unanswered points to make it 44-37 with 4:28 showing.

Genoa managed to battle back and make it a 45-43 game with less than three minutes left, but only had two points left in them offensively.

The Lady Devils weren't finished scoring and tossed in seven more, mostly from the line as Genoa was forced to foul, and take the win.