Clutch free throw help Holcomb rally past Malden 46-42 in first round of LRCC

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Holcomb's Selena Burress (33) Malden's Jada Townsend (5), and Holcomb's Bailey Cupples (21) battle for a rebound Saturday in a first-round contest at the Lady Royals Classic at Twin Rivers High School. (DELTA DUNKLIN DEMOCRAT/Dustin Ward)

BROSELEY - Finding a way to get to the charity stripe proved to be golden for the Holcomb Hornets in its first round contest against the Malden Green Wave at the Lady Royals Christmas Classic Saturday.

No. 7 seeded Holcomb knocked down 23 free throws, including 12 of 16 in the the fourth quarter, as it overcame a 24-15 halftime deficit to edge No. 10 seeded Malden 46-42.

“At the very end we finally caught them,” Holcomb coach Alexa Stockton said. “Getting their starters to foul out and getting to the free throw line at the same time was big time for us because typically we are decent from the free throw line. Knock on wood but that’s typically our bread and butter.”

Malden remained within in a field goal of the lead in the closing minutes of regulation despite having four players foul out The Green Wave’s Mallory Perkins cut Holcomb’s lead to 43-42 with 1:34 left when she hit a pair of free throws.

But Malden never scored after.

Bailey Cupples, who finished with a team-high 15 points, hit two free throws with 1:18 left to pad Holcomb’s lead to 45-42. Macy Houart, who recorded 10 points, made another free throw with six seconds left to increase the Hornets’ lead to the final score.

“Holcomb scored half their points at the free throw line,” Malden coach Josh Herring said. "Our girls gave great effort and worked really hard. I love my group and the style they play. We’ve just got to fix the fouling issue and find a way to put the ball in the hole more often.”

Malden, which suffered a 71-51 loss to Holcomb last week, scored the first nine points in Round 2 Saturday and continued to enjoy a nine-point lead at halftime.

Holcomb rebounded by winning the third quarter 11-4 and the fourth quarter 20-13 to rally for the victory.

“We’ve gotten better,” Herring said. “It’s impressive how much closer we played them tonight than we did last week. We executed our game plan really well in the first half tonight. We just kind of got in a lull in the second half offensively and couldn’t score.”

Holcomb forward Hannah Burk tallied nine of her 11 points after halftime to help fuel her squad’s comeback. Burk made eight of nine free throws in the second half.

“Our intensity was better and we finished shots better in the second half,” Stockton said.

Brydon Maddox hit both of the Green Wave’s treys. She paced Malden with 15 points.

“She was really focussed tonight,” Herring said. “She’s been working on her shot. She scored quite a bit. We had some other girls step up as well."

Mallory Perkins was the next highest scorer for Malden with nine points. Perkins made five of six free throws and a pair of 2-point buckets.

Malden (3-5) plays No. 15 seeded Portageville in a consolation quarterfinal Monday at 1:30 p.m.

“We lost this game but we’ve got other games to push for,” Herring said. “We want to win every game regardless of who we play and hopefully we can kind find a way to advance farther in this tournament.”

Holcomb (6-1) will take on No. 2 seeded Twin Rivers in a quarterfinal Monday at 7:30 p.m.

“It will be extremely tough,” Stockton said. “Twin Rivers will be a physical team for us to go up against. We are going to try to prepare for it Sunday and give it the good ole college try.”

No. 7 Holcomb 46, No. 10 Malden 42

MHS 9 16 4 13 - 42

HHS 8 7 11 20 - 46

MALDEN (42) - Angela Dobbins 3, Mallory Perkins 9, Jada Townsend 2, Antwanasia Bloniarz-Smoot 4, Brydon Maddox 15, Madison Saulsbery 5, Rachel Rommel 4. FG 15, FT 10/14, F 26. (3-pointers: Maddox 2; Fouled out: Perkins, Townsend, Smoot, Saulsbery).

HOLCOMB (46) - Macy Houart 10, Bailey Cupples 15, Alyssa Brown 3, Maleigh Lemings 2, Selena Burress 7, Hannah Burk 11. FG 11, FT 23/38, F 14. (3-pointers: Burress 1; Fouled out: None).