Taylorsville trailed Heidelberg 22-18 at halftime Friday night, but the Lady Tartars found a different gear in the second half and went on to beat the Lady Oilers on the road, 52-38.
Taylorsville head coach Angela Moore said her team was taken off guard by Heidelberg's team speed and desire during the first half of the important Region 5-2A road contest. Halftime adjustments remedied the problem.
“Heidelberg had such intensity and speed that it just kind of caught us off guard. But, when we got into halftime, we talked about it, we adjusted to the man-to-man defense, and my girls just picked it up another level,” Moore explained. “We put a little more pressure on Heidelberg, and we took care of the ball a little better than we have been doing.”
Kolten Blakeney and Kywanna Johnson picked up the offensive pace for the Lady Tartars in the third period. Blakeney hit 6 points and Johnson netted 7 to help Taylorsville finally grab a lead, 32-30, with just over three minutes remaining in the period. Whitney Keyes later dropped a layup and a following foul shot at the free throw line to extend the advantage, 35-30. Heidelberg then trimmed Taylorsville's lead to 35-34 on a Shoquada Joshua shot just before heading into the fourth period.
Blakeney and Whitney Keyes provided a handful of points in the fourth period for the Lady Tartars. Tia Keyes was on point at the charity stripe with four made baskets and two layups on top of that which extended Taylorsville's lead further in the fourth. Taylorsville's defense stepped it up a notch in the final period and only allowed Heidelberg 4 points.
Blakeney and Johnson both scored 12 points against Heidelberg. Whitney Keyes produced 11 points, and Tia Keyes had 8. Tamara Williams and Julisa Keyes both scored 5 points.
The Lady Tartars (15-6, 4-2) are right in the mix of a very competitive six-team region with Puckett, 6-0 in the region leading the way, and Taylorsville tied with Bay Springs, both 4-2 in region play.
Moore says she expects her team to pull together in the final portion of the regular season and compete for a region title.
“One of them has beat us by five and one of them beat us by six,” she said of Puckett and Bay Springs. “We are going to make a push. I'll go back to our turnovers. If we can get those turnovers straightened out, then we can make a push at both of them. That's our plan.”
Taylorsville will host Bay Springs this Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
