When Sarah Sutton and Mason Towery are both on, Allen County-Scottsville is tough to deal with.
Behind a dominant double-double performance of 19 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for Sutton and a 12-point, six-rebound outing by Towery, the Lady Patriots earned a hard-fought 47-37 win over Greenwood on Tuesday evening at Greenwood High School.
“It was awesome,” Sutton said. “Greenwood, we played them earlier in the season, and they’ve gotten a lot better since then. They played really good defense and made things tough, but I thought we did a good job answering that and staying calm and doing our thing and getting those buckets.”
The dominant duo’s big numbers were recorded throughout different stretches of the contest. While Towery scored all seven of ACS’ points in the opening quarter and helped the squad get going, Sutton later scored all 12 of the Lady Patriots’ points in the third quarter to put the club in front entering the fourth.
Allen County-Scottsville (15-5) trailed 12-7 after one but outscored Greenwood 16-6 in the second to take a 23-18 lead into the locker room at halftime. Things remained competitive throughout the second half, but the Lady Patriots used a late fourth-quarter run and knocked down clutch free throws to come out on top.
“I knew it would be a tough game because (Greenwood) had played pretty well,” Allen County-Scottsville coach Greg Dunn said. “Sarah’s performance – 20 rebounds is amazing – and she was getting hammered time, after time, after time. She got rebound, after rebound and kept going up and battling. When she decides she’s gonna take control, she pretty much does that.
“It was a great performance by her.”
While Sutton and Towery led the way, Taylor Carter also finished in double figures with 10 points for ACS.
Jacqueline Jackson finished with a team-high 12 points for the Lady Gators (10-9), while Megan Une tallied 10.
The two sides played a competitive opening half.
Greenwood was the aggressor early, recording the game’s first two baskets to lead 4-0 at the 5:03 mark of the first quarter. Towery’s layup at the 2:05 mark brought Allen County-Scottsville to within a point at 8-7, but the Lady Gators closed the period with back-to-back buckets – highlighted by Leia Trinh’s floater through the middle of the lane – to lead 12-7 after one.
“We got off to such a good start,” Greenwood coach Zach Simpson said. “We just kind of got stagnant there a little bit. I thought defensively we were pretty good for most of the night. I thought we controlled some of the runs that they made. We just couldn’t make enough plays at the end of the game, but we’ll get better from here.”
The Lady Patriots bounced back from a poor offensive performance in the opening frame with a solid second. A quick 7-0 run to open the quarter – which included a Sutton 3-pointer – gave ACS its first lead of 14-12 at the 6:18 mark. On the next possession, Towery converted an and-one to make it 17-12.
Back-to-back baskets from Jackson helped the Lady Gators cut the Lady Patriots’ advantage to 21-18, but Allen County-Scottsville ultimately led 23-18 at the break. Towery and Jackson were both up to 10 points for their respective teams.
Allen County-Scottsville – led by Sutton – went to work in the third quarter.
The two sides exchanged baskets throughout the period, but Sutton stole the show by scoring all 12 of the Lady Patriots’ points. Opening the third with a pair of free throws, Sutton – who also grabbed many, many rebounds in the frame – went on to score 10 more points in a span of 5:21 and helped ACS take a 35-28 advantage into the fourth.
Trailing 39-32 with just over two minutes remaining, Trinh hit a jumper from the left baseline to help Greenwood get within five at the 2:19 mark. However, ACS immediately answered with a Carter layup and a pair of Towery free throws to build a 43-34 lead and seal it.
“The kids that played did a great job,” said Dunn.
The Lady Gators return to action Friday at Warren East, while the Lady Patriots don’t return to the court until next Tuesday at Franklin-Simpson. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 6 p.m.
Greenwood – 12 6 10 9 — 37
Allen County-Scottsville – 7 16 12 12 — 47
GHS – Jacqueline Jackson 12, Megan Une 10, Nicole Milam 6, Carly Miller 4, Leia Trinh 4, Hailey Gordon 1.
ACS – Sarah Sutton 19, Mason Towery 12, Taylor Carter 10, Chloe Cook 4, Kaylee Bullington 2.
Rippy, Shirley shoot Patriots past Gators
Allen County-Scottsville and Greenwood competed in an intriguing, back-and-forth contest on Tuesday night, but it was the visiting – and red-hot – Patriots that came out on top with a hard-fought 73-66 win at Greenwood High School.
The Patriots – which improved to an impressive 17-3 on the season – shot 24-of-44 (54.5 percent) from the field, 12-of-22 from three-point territory, worked the ball around very effectively and used a handful of runs to hold off the Gators.
“That’s kind of what we’ve done all year long,” Allen County-Scottsville coach Brad Bonds said. “The guys buy into it. They love playing with each other, they love playing for each other and when you can do those things and have fun doing it, success is right there waiting for you.”
ACS held a slim 13-10 lead after the opening quarter and took a 30-22 advantage into the locker room at halftime. Greenwood (8-11) outscored ACS 20-15 in the third and gave it all it had in the final frame, but the Patriots were able to make clutch shots and keep the Gators from getting back in front.
Brett Rippy knocked down six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points for Allen County-Scottsville, while Mason Shirley wasn’t too far behind with 23 points.
“We went into a spell there a few minutes without making shots, but we knew to just have confidence and keep making shots,” Rippy said. “We’re a good team – and we knew we could do it.”
Greenwood had four different players finish in double figures as Noah Stansbury scored 16 points, Ben Carroll tallied 15 and Cade Stinnett and Jack Roberts each finished with 14, but a 33.3 percent shooting performance hurt the Gators.
“When you start 7-for-32, I mean that’s just insane. Hopefully we’re better shooters than that,” Greenwood coach Bob Pels said. “I didn’t think there were a ton of bad shots in there – we just fell in lov with the 3. When you hit 20 percent, it’s hard to fall in love with that.”
Greenwood returns to action Friday at Warren East, while Allen County-Scottsville hosts Bowling Green on Saturday at Patriot Gym. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
Greenwood – 10 12 20 24 — 66
Allen County-Scottsville – 16 17 15 28 — 73
GHS – Noah Stansbury 16, Ben Carroll 15, Cade Stinnett 14, Jack Roberts 14, Parker Williams 7.
ACS – Brett Rippy 27, Mason Shirley 23, Owen Stamper 9, Bryce Carter 4, Chase Ward 4, Michael Smith 4, Camden Carver 2.
