Cherokee County's Deigra Davis, right, tries to get a shot off against a Fort Payne defender Friday night.
That night at Fort Payne, Williams scored 32 points to lead the Lady Wildcats to an eight-point win.
The rematch was Friday night at Cherokee County High School. And, while the Lady Warriors cut Williams’ scoring to under half the margin she came away with the first time, Fort Payne still managed to claim a 51-46 victory.
Williams scored 12 points at the half, but only managed a bucket in the second half to finish with 14 points.
“We knew we had to stop her tonight,” Cherokee County coach Travis Barnes said. “I told the girls if we could hold her to 15, we felt we could be in the game at the end. She likes to penetrate, so basically we laid off of her and really tried to close the lane.”
The strategy worked for a while, but then the Lady Wildcats’ Taylor Dean started scoring. She led Fort Payne (22-6) with 16 points. Conner Jordan added nine points.
However, the thing Cherokee County (14-11) struggled with the most on Friday was Fort Payne’s full-court press. That forced the Lady Warriors into 23 turnovers for the game.
“They’re such big girls, they’re hard to throw over,” Barnes said. “With their press, they’re so big and they make the floor so small. We just have small, little windows to throw the ball into.
“I told our girls the less we had to throw on the press, the less turnovers we’d have, but they just made the plays when they had to. They’re a good team. Girl for girl, they’re probably the most athletic team we’ve played all year.”
Another area in which the Lady Warriors struggled was free-throw shooting. As a team, they were 10 of 24 at the charity stripe.
“Free throws have been our downfall all year,” Barnes said. “We were 10 of 24 and lost by five. That’s the difference in the game.”
Cherokee County led by a 15-14 margin at the end of the first quarter before the Lady Wildcats took a 29-24 lead at halftime. The Lady Warriors battled back to regain the lead at the end of the third quarter at 37-36, but Fort Payne went on a 15-9 run in the fourth for the final.
Kaitlyn Griffith led the Lady Warriors with 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Deidra Davis, who was playing with a banged-up right arm, finished with 13 points and four boards.
Barnes said Davis “showed a lot of guts and a lot of heart tonight.”
“Last night (Thursday at Piedmont), she had a girl fall on her arm, and she was playing tonight with one arm. Even being hurt, she still basically played the whole game,” Barnes said.
In addition to Griffith and Davis’ numbers, Candace Blanchard added seven points and five rebounds for the Lady Warriors. Lynden Curry finished with six points and four assists.
“I was proud of how our girls fought,” Barnes said. “Even in a loss, we feel like we’ve gained a lot of momentum, especially heading into the area tournament.”
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