By: Tadi Abedje
On Tuesday, the Wilson High School Lady Tigers knocked off the National Cathedral Lady Eagles, 41-36. It was a competitive, exciting contest from the start.
In the opening quarter, both teams exchanged turnovers on their opening possessions. National Cathedral scored its first points with a bucket from Samantha Douki. For Wilson, Ana Fischer scored Wilson’s first points on the baseline. A couple of plays later, Chloe Conaghan connected on two foul shots for National Cathedral.
Later in the first quarter, the Tigers called their first timeout of the game after a confusion on a play. With 14 seconds left in the quarter, Nina Davy made two foul shots. Then, Dakota Joi Inniss made a layup off a deflection before the buzzer sounded. Cathedral held a 13-7 to end the first quarter.
With over five minutes left in the first half, Edmee Brown-Egue made Wilson’s first bucket of the quarter. And after she attacked the rim for an and-one, the Eagles called a timeout with 3:48 remaining.
With a minute left in the first half, Wilson’s Kaiya Medina made her first basket on a layup. A few possessions later, Tara Cousins made Wilson’s first three-point shot of the game. Then, Conaghan made a shot from the baseline before the clock struck zero. National Cathedral finished the first half with a 20-18 lead, But Wilson outscored them 11-7 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, The Tigers took their first lead of the game on a putback by Medina. And after Cousins scored another basket, the Eagles decided to call a timeout.
Later on, Cousins found Brown-Egue as she cut in for an easy hoop. Cousins made another three-point shot with under 20 seconds left. But Davy knocked down a shot from downtown before the buzzer sounded. The Tigers finished the third quarter with a 31-28 lead.
In the final quarter, Brown-Egue quickly made two foul shots. National Cathedral’s Josephine Freis made a layup to cut the Eagles’ deficit to three points. A few plays later, Cousins connected on a pull-up jump shot from the free throw line, giving Wilson a seven-point lead.
But the Tigers called a timeout with 1:50 left to regroup. Lilly Keller scored for the Eagles to cut the deficit to a single possession. Then, Dakota Joi Inniss made a clutch basket to put the game away for Wilson.
Brown-Egue scored a team-high 15 points for the Tigers, and Cousins chipped in with 12 points. “Put my point guard (Tara Cousins) in. She was dealing with a disciplinary issue, so I [had to] sit her in the first half. I put her in the second quarter,” said Wilson head coach Nadira Ricks.
Davy led the Eagles in scoring with 11 points, and she was the only player to reach double figures. “They made good adjustments, especially in the second half going to man-to-man, which we struggled with a little bit,” National Cathedral head coach Tom Regan explained.
“We didn’t box out consistently enough, go after some loose balls, and we were in the double bonus in the second half. We got to work on positioning, not be reaching for the ball. Hopefully it’s just a couple little clean up things,” Regan said.
Next, the Lady Tigers will travel to Sidwell Friends to take on the Quakers on December 8th at 1:00pm.
