Scoring woes continue to plague Northwest Lady Vikings in Rebels Christmas Classic loss to Stewart County

Dover, TN – Northwest High School’s girls basketball team failed to break into double figures in any of the four quarters played, Saturday, December 27th in the opening day of the Stewart County Rebels Christmas Classic at the Bill Craig Memorial Gymnasium, as the Lady Vikings fell to the tournament host Stewart County High School, 41-28.

Right from the start, Northwest (2-12) would have trouble even getting into its offense with Stewart County pressing – which led to turnovers or hurried shots – with the Lady Rebels jumping out to a 9-2 lead in the first 2:35 of the game.

Brown would lead Northwest with 11 points, while the Lady Rebels’ Dial led all scorers with 18 points.

Northwest would keep the game relatively close for most of the second quarter, trailing by only three points, 18-15 with 2:21 left before intermission, but five missed free throw attempts hampered the Lady Vikings come-back effort.

Overall, Northwest was 0-for-7 from the line in the first half and 1-for-10 in the game.

But like the opening quarter, Stewart County would close a period with a flourish, scoring the final six points of the period to take a nine-point advantage into the locker room at halftime, 24-15.

The second half would see Stewart County score seven of the first 10 points of the period to go up double figures for the first time in the contest, 31-18 with 4:27 left, but the Lady Vikings would hold the Lady Rebels scoreless for the remaining 3:33 of the period.

But despite the defense slowing the Lady Rebels down, the Lady Vikings offense wasn’t able to do much to cut into the deficit, scoring only five points over that span to trail by eight after three periods of play, 31-23.

That would be as close as Northwest would get the rest of the way, with Stewart County opening the final quarter with back-to-back 3s from Dial and Curstin Wallace to extend the lead out to a game-high 14 points, 37-23 with 5:40 left.

Northwest would make one final rally to get to within nine points, 37-38 with 2:30 left, but Stewart County closed out the game by scoring the final four points – all from the free throw line – for the 41-28 final.

The Lady Vikings return to action, 3:00pm, December 29th, when the face Cheatham County Central High School in the final day of the Rebels Christmas Tournament.

Box Score

Stewart County 41, Northwest 28

Northwest: Akiya Brown 11, Jashia Huey 2, Taylor Senseney 8, Kaitlin McLaughlin 2, Megan Thompson 5. Team totals 12 1-10 28.
Stewart County: Casey Dial 18, Codie Gibbs 14, Curstin Wallace 3, May Mathis 4, Taylor Miliken 2. Team totals 13 9-16 41.
3-point field goals: Northwest 3 (Brown 3), Stewart County 6 (Dial 4, Gibbs 1, Wallace 1).
Records: Northwest 2-12, Stewart County 7-8.