By T. Scott Boatright
The Lady Aggies saved their best for last as a late fourth-quarter surge propelled Choudrant to a 40-33 win Monday night at the CHS Gym.
While Choudrant struggled offensively much of the game, the steady play of the Lady Aggies’ defense kept them within striking distance and provided an opportunity for a late come-from-behind win.
“Defense is what we preach and what we do best, and we did a good job on that side of the ball tonight,” said Lady Aggies coach Brandy Roberson. “And while it took a little late offense to pull off the win, it was still all set up by our defense.
“And it’s our defense that has kept us in games so far this season. We’re still looking to find who we are offensively — searching for ways to score more points. We’re making progress and getting better, and this was a big win. But we still need to find ways to score more points.”
The game stayed tight throughout the opening 24 minutes, with St. Frederick leading 7-6 at the end of the opening stanza, 14-12 at halftime and 26-24 heading into the final quarter of play.
“Again it’s that defense that kept us in it up to that point,” Roberson said. “This team works hard. They play hard. That’s how they stayed in it and gave themselves a chance to win — playing solid defense.”
The Lady Aggies finally found some offense in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lady Warriors 16-7 to earn the win.
“While we did not play well offensively overall, we battled until the end,” Roberson said. “Playing that really hard defense created some scoring opportunities late in the game, and we made some big free throws at the end to finish up the game.
Reese Brown led Choudrant with 13 points while Brelyn Pyle added nine and Alyssa Bell chipped in with six.
Sadie Jones and Abby Frazier each hit for four points for Choudrant, which also received an early 3-pointer from Caroline May to account for half of the Lady Aggies’ first-quarter scoring.
Next up for the Lady Aggies (9-11) is a home game against Cedar Creek (6-7) at 6 p.m. today.
