By Malcolm Butler
Zoey Venters was everywhere.
The Cedar Creek forward scored a team-high 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Cougars to a 55-47 win over Saline in the first day of the 2023 Neill Kilgore Memorial Tournament at the Brickhouse.
Venters came of the Lady Cougar bench and contributed in every phase of the game to help her team win for the second time this year against Saline.
“I loved the energy that Zoey Venters brought off the bench,” said Creek head coach Katie Hall. “I loved it. She gets quality minutes because she is relentless on the boards and defensively. She really creates havoc on the ball.”
Venters scored six in the first quarter and four more in the second quarter to help Cedar Creek hold a 34-28 halftime lead. However, it was midway through the fourth quarter when Saline had cut a double digit lead down to 48-45 that Venters hit a jumper to start a game-sealing 7-2 run for Creek.
The Lady Cougars and Saline came out of the gates strong offensively, with Creek building a 21-18 lead at the end of the first quarter. Caroline James hit a elbow jumper and Olivia Underwood connected on a three-pointer for the first five points of the contest.
A James layup in transition gave Creek a 10-7 lead midway through the opening quarter before Venters hit a layup and connected on a jumper in back-to-back possessions to make the score 14-12. After Saline scored five straight to go up 17-14, Venters hit a 15-foot baseline jumper.
Mallory Smith drained a 3-pointer with just 30 seconds to play in the first quarter to give the Lady Cougars the three-point lead.
“I thought we moved the ball well offensively,” said Hall. “We are still trying to figure out what is a good shot, but I feel like offensively we didn’t get stagnant. Defensively, we had to try different things to figure out how to stop them from scoring.”
Venters continued her onslaught in the second quarter with a layup at the 7 minute mark followed by a steal and a layup in transition with 5 minutes to play to make it 28-24 Lady Cougars. James connected on a three-pointer with 1:15 to play in the second quarter to make it 32-26.
Creek slowly extended its lead after halftime as Venters offensive rebound and putback made it 42-32 with 2:30 to play in the third quarter. Freshman Alivia Lee hit a bucket with just 55 seconds to play in the third to give the Lady Cougars a 44-36 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Freshman point guard Mary Grace Hawkins made some key plays in the final quarter to help the Lady Cougars maintain their lead. Hawkins connected on back-to-back buckets during a 45 second stretch as the Lady Cougars led 48-45 midway through the final stanza.
“I was proud of Mary Grace Hawkins and how she handled the basketball late in the game, especially when they started pressing us,” said Hall.
In addition to Venters big night, Smith added 12 points, James nine points, Underwood seven points and Hawkins six points in the win.
Cedar Creek will host Carroll this evening at 7:45 p.m. before playing Quitman Saturday at 5:45 p.m.
