Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

COAL GROVE ¬— In the movie “El Dorado,” Johnny Crawford’s character Luke McDonald has been gut shot and is riddled with pain.

He asks John Wayne’s character Cole Thornton, “Is it bad?” To which John Wayne answers, “It’s not good.”

The Coal Grove Lady Hornets were behind and struggling in the first half and probably felt “gut shot.” But, they were able to heal their wounds in the second half and rallied to beat the Rock Hill Redwomen 59-48 in overtime on Monday.

Coal Grove (4-2, 2-1) shot just 4-of-20 from the field in the first half and trailed 28-12 at the break.

The Redwomen hit 8-of-16 shots in the first quarter and jumped out to a 19-6 lead as Hazley Matthews scored 8 points and Hadyn Bailey hit a 3-pointer and scored 5 points.

But Rock Hill (3-1, 2-1) cooled off in the second quarter and made just 3-of-15 attempts in the second quarter.

“Rock Hill came out hot and played really well in the first. We held them in check most of the rest of the game,” said Lady Hornets’ coach Nick Miller.

“We couldn’t get anything to go in the first half. The shots started to fall and our confidence grew. Kaleigh had a huge second half. Kelsey Fraley gave us a big scoring lift. It was a gutty win.”

Ah yes. A gutty win.

While the Redwomen shooting continued to slide as they made only 5-of-16 shots in the third quarter, Coal Grove was 6-of-19 led by Kaleigh Murphy who scored 10 points in the quarter including 4-of-4 from the foul line.

Kelsey Fraley, Elli Holmes and Murphy all hit 3-pointers in the fourth quarter with Murphy scoring 8 points as the Lady Hornets rallied to within 3 points.

With 1.5 second to play, Murphy hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and force overtime.

The momentum continued for the Lady Hornets in overtime and Rock Hill continued to looking for its shooting eye.

Fraley hit a triple and was 4-of-4 from the foul line while Murphy had 4 pints and was 2-of-4 at the line. Abbey Hicks made 2-for-2 free throws as Coal Grove was 8-of-10 at the line in the quarter

Rock Hill was 1-of-9 from the field in overtime.

The Redwomen were a mere 20-of-71 overall from the field for 28 percent but just 12-for-55 for 22 percent after the first quarter.

Murphy had the biggest game of her career as she scored 28 points. Fraley scored 15 points.

Matthews scored 17 points and Bailey had 15 to place the Redwomen.

Rock Hill 19 9 11 7 2 = 48

Coal Grove 6 6 18 16 13 = 59

ROCK HILL (3-1, 2-1): Aleigha Matney 2 0 0-0 4, Hadyn Bailey 2 3 2-2 15, Emma Harper 0 0 1-2 1, Hope Easterling 2 0 1-2 5, Hazley Matthews 8 0 1-2 17, Haleigh Risner 1 0 0-1 2, J’Lynn Risner 2 0 0-2 4. Totals: 20-71 5-11 48. 3-pt. goals: 3. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Harper, Easterling.

COAL GROVE (4-2, 2-1): Kelsey Fraley 2 2 5-7 15, Elli Holmes 1 1 1-2 6, Kinsey Keeney 0 0 0-0 0. Alivia Noel 1 0 0-1 2, Kaleigh Murphy 8 1 9-12 28, Abbey Hicks 0 1 2-2 5, Rylee Harmon 0 0 1-2 1, Kenadee Keeton1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 18-78 18-26 59. 3-pt goals: 5. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.