Lady Warriors Drop Shootout with Oak Mountain

The Oak Mountain Eagles got out to a fast start and didn’t look back during their first visit to Thompson High School’s Warrior Arena. The Eagles used big runs at the beginning of the first and third quarter to build a big lead and held off the fast charging Warriors late to win 74-63. The win keeps Oak Mountain out of last place and a first round match with Hoover in the upcoming area tournament.

Oak Mountain came out swinging from the opening tip, especially Kailey Rory who scored all ten of her first quarter points the Eagles’ 18-1 run to begin the game. Rory and her teammates were aggressive on defense and forced 15 turnovers in the first half to open up the huge lead. Despite Thompson finding their footing late in the period the Eagles lead remained wide at 24-7 heading into the second quarter.

The Warriors finally got going at home and used full court pressure to keep themselves in the game. They forced nine turnovers in the second quarter and London Wooley scored seven of her nine first half points to lead Thompson before halftime. The Warriors had their chances at the free throw line to close the disparity, but only connected on four of ten attempts in the period. Despite the defensive push, Thompson was only able to marginally cut into the lead and still trailed 37-22 at halftime.

It would be the Eagles again who came out firing to start the second half fueled again by Rory who finally broke the Warriors’ press and found teammate Hannah Edwards early and often to spark a 15-1 lead that gave Oak Mountain an overwhelming 29 point lead. Edwards hit all six of her shots in the quarter for 12 points to help put the game out of reach.

Thompson, down 29, put together a 10-0 run between the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter, but Oak Mountain slowly made that back scoring 16 of the next 23 points. Brooklyn Oden was huge for the Warriors in the final period scoring 13 of her team-high 21 points down the stretch, but the deficit was too much to handle.

Thompson will have one final home game scheduled against Chilton County Jan 28 and on the road at Helena Jan 29 with a 6 p.m. start for both.