By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
The 24 turnovers the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles had for the game may not have beaten them, but the 14 they committed in the second half probably did in Friday's 43-37 road loss to the Frisco City Lady Whippets.
W.S. Neal, which beat Frisco City 30-23 at East Brewton back in December had a 19-17 lead at halftime.
The game turned in the third quarter, as Frisco City went on a 16-7 run to move in front 33-26. W.S. Neal was unable to cut into that lead in the fourth quarter.
One plus for the Lady Blue Eagles (5-18) was junior Tierra Andrews continued her fine stretch of play with 16 more points. Andrews has averaged 21.2 points a game over W.S. Neal's last five contests. Jolesia Likely added nine points, while Jessica Smith had a team high nine rebounds.
At Frisco City
W.S. Neal 8 11 7 11 – 37
Frisco City 8 9 16 10 – 43
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Andrews 1-2-8-16; Likely 1-2-1-9; Adams 0-2-0-6; Smith 1-0-1-3; Gulley 1-0-0-2; Matthews 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 4-6-11-37)
FRISCO CITY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Parker 7-0-1-15; S. Bonner 2-1-5-12; A. Williams 1-1-0-5; A. Bonner 1-1-0-5; Mason 1-0-0-2; Lee 1-0-0-2; C. Williams 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 14-3-6-43)
WSN drops Area finale
The Lady Blue Eagles closed out a winless Class 3A Area 1 season Tuesday when it dropped a 45-24 home court decision to the Straughn Lady Tigers.
It was Straughn's third win of the season over W.S. Neal to go along with a 55-32 victory at Straughn and a 49-24 triumph at the Florala Tournament.
The Lady Blue Eagles appeared to well on their way to reversing those decisions, as they had a 10-4 lead with just over three minutes left in the first half.
While the Lady Tigers had their share of offensive problems, so did W.S. Neal despite its lead.
After Tierra Andrews banged home a three-pointer with two minutes left in the first quarter, the Lady Blue Eagles scored just two points over the next 11 minutes.
Straughn started to solve the W.S. Neal defense over the final three minutes of the first half, as a three-pointer and field goal by Abby Bracewell along with hoops by Jami Wilcox and McKena Parker sent the Lady Tigers (8-10 overall and 2-3 in Area 1) into halftime with a 13-10 lead.
Straughn stretched its run to 11-0 and lead to 15-10 on a field goal by Alye Stokes early in the third quarter before a three-pointer by Andrews snapped it.
The Lady Blue Eagles got as close as 17-16 when Shekinah Adams swished a trey with 5:41left in the quarter when the bottom dropped out on W.S. Neal.
At W.S. Neal
Straughn 4 9 15 17 – 45
W.S. Neal 8 2 10 4 – 24
STRAUGHN (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Bracewell 5-1-3-16; Stokes 4-0-1-9; Wilcox 3-0-2-8; Parker 2-0-0-4; Watson 2-0-0-4; Sport 1-0-0-2; Daniels 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 18-1-6-45)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Andrews 1-2-4-12; Adams 0-2-0-6; Likely 2-0-0-4; Gulley 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 4-4-4-24)