Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott splits with Scrappers part 1

Prescott split evenly with the Nashville Scrappers Friday night at Little Bud.

The two boy's teams posted wins, while the Cubettes and Wolverettes fell victim to the Scrapperettes.

WOLVES 58

SCRAPPERS 39

The Curley Wolves remained undefeated in 7AAA action as they hammered the Nashville Scrappers 58-39. But, the win didn't come easily for Prescott's senior boys.

In fact, the Wolves found themselves trailing at the end of the first quarter.

The game began with Prescott winning the tip, but missing a three-point shot.

Once the first shot was fired, both teams raced up and down the court, each looking for a chink in the other's defense. Few cracks were found in either's armor early on.

Prescott's first point came on a free throw with 6:32 left in the first.

With 4:57 showing, the Scrappers managed to take a 2-1 lead, but lost it when the Wolves nailed their first bucket, making the score 3-2.

Mistakes and turnovers dominated the first eight minutes, which ended with Nashville holding a 14-13 lead.

Trailing didn't set well with the Wolves, especially as they were behind to Nashville, so they turned up the heat in the second quarter.

The Scrappers had the ball to start the period, only to see it stolen by Prescott, with a Wolf dropping it in the bucket.

Defensively, Nashville found it difficult to get shots close to the basket as Prescott players routinely slapped the ball away. The end result was the Scrapper offense was frozen out.

Meanwhile, Prescott's offense began to thaw, as the Wolves went on a 9-0 run to take a 22-14 lead with 4:29 left in the half.

It was also with 4:29 to go the Scrappers were called for a technical foul after a Nashville player rudely questioned an official's call.

Prescott missed both free throws, but retained possession of the ball.

Had the Wolves shot better from the charity stripe, the Scrappers would never have been in the game. By the end of the contest, Prescott's free throw stats showed the Wolves hitting only 13 of 31 attempts.

On the other hand, Nashville converted nine of 13 from the line to help stay in the game.

Nashville tried to battle back in the second quarter, but didn't score until the 2:52 mark, when a three-point shot fell.

Halftime arrived with the Wolves up 31-23.

The Scrappers didn't make the trip to Little Bud to roll over and play dead against the league-leading Wolves.

Nashville opened the second half with the ball and first points of the third quarter.

The Scrappers pressed the Wolves, forcing turnovers, and clawed their way back into the game, cutting Prescott's lead to five at 31-25 with 7:50 to go, and again at 36-31 with 3:52 left.

Little did anyone realize at the time Nashville's offense only had eight more points left to score in the game.

Late in the third, fouls began slowing the pace of the contest, with Prescott still unable to convert free throws efficiently.

The quarter came to an end with the Wolves up 41-36.

The Wolves opened the final eight minutes hitting one of two free throws, and doing a little pressing of their own.

Prescott played "in your face" basketball, effectively shutting Nashville's offense down.

Down the stretch, the Scrappers had nothing left to give, while the Wolves played almost flawlessly.

Joe Stueart led the way for Prescott with 17 points. Kevin Fulks was next with 15, while Decolen Prater added 12.

Dave Vaughn and Ray Smith scored 10 each for Nashville.

WOLVERETTES 41

SCRAPPERETTES 56

Prescott's Wolverettes fought hard, but couldn't overcome their inability to find the bottom of the basket, which led to a 56-41 win by Nashville.