Slow starts costly to Devilettes

Lebanon basketball games are usually scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tipoffs. But it's taken the Devilettes several minutes after the opening tip to get going the past couple of games.
Smyrna pitched a first-quarter shutout Tuesday night before Lebanon almost played the Lady Bulldogs evenly the final 24 minutes in a 67-46 Devilette defeat at Campbell Brandon Gym/Hester Gibbs Court.
Lebanon fell behind 19-0 by the time the second quarter began. The Devilettes trailed Stone Memorial 34-14 at the end of the first period of an 84-69 TSSAA Hall of Champions setback Saturday at Pickett County, a game which won't count on LHS' record.
"It was the same thing tonight. We come out the first quarter and stand around like we don't have a clue what we're doing," first-year Devilette coach Darian Brown said after his Devilettes officially dropped to 1-1 for the season. "Then we decided to play in the second half. We scored, but we act like we don't know what we're doing the first half."
The teams engaged in a game of racehorse hoops from the get-go. But the Devilettes couldn't get a shot to fall while Smyrna's Jasmine White scored seven points and Alex Adams six.
The Devilettes climbed off the canvas in the second period and were outscored by just one in trailing 35-15 at halftime.
By game's end, White totaled 22 points, Adams 14 and forward Dimon Raynor 11 as Smyrna officially moved to 2-0. The Lady Bulldogs, who lost four starters from last year's Region 5-AAA championship team but promoted several key reserves to starting roles, split their Hall of Champion contests last week, including a loss at Shelbyville.
Icelyn Elie came off the Devilette bench to total all 12 of her points in the second half, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Crystal Howse added eight, Jasmin Brooks and Ebony Marshall seven each, London Elie six, Samantha Dies four and Chastidy Herrod two.
"We're not going to go down and out-fundamental you," Brown said of Lebanon's end-to-end style of play. "We've got to push the ball and try to make it more of an uptempo game.
"We've got to try to use our athleticism and push the ball... Defensively, we did exactly what we wanted to do with the posts. We took their posts out of the play. We got them fronted, we got help-side defense. But we did not do anything offensively. We just stood around and didn't do what we worked on all day in practice today."
Brown is having to make do without senior guard Brandilyn Callis, who tore her ACL the first week of practice and is feared lost for the season.
"People don't understand how important she was going to be to us," Brown said of Callis. "She's one of those players, she's always in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing."
Despite the slow start against Stone Memorial, Lebanon received four three-pointers apiece from Brooks, who finished with 18 points, and Kim Ha, who fired in 15. Marshall managed 10.
"It's not that we're not doing some good things, it's just we're taking too long to do the good things," Brown said. "We just can't dig a 20-point hole and then decide to play ball."
Lebanon will travel to Murfreesboro for the Oakland Classic at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Devilettes will take on Father Ryan on Friday and Clarksville 24 hours later.

Central shuts down Siegel 57-30
GLADEVILLE — Wilson Central's girls clamped down on defense to shut down visiting Siegel 57-30 Tuesday night.
The Lady Wildcats led 12-4 following the first quarter and 41-16 at halftime as they won their official season opener. The sank 16 of 25 field goals in the first half and 23 of 44 for the game.
Central also controlled the boards 31-20.
"I don't think they played well to start with," Lady Wildcat coach Bud Brandon said. "But I'm going to give our team credit. Defensively, we got after them. I think our defense intimidated them. And all defenses play better when the offense is playing well.
"Great teams, when they win, they practice harder to get even better and that's what we want to do."
Tierney Jenkins scored 17 points for Central while fellow post Sara Williams didn't miss a shot (5-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the line) for 12 points. Lauren Farmer sank 4 of 7 from the backcourt for 10 points while Jasmine Hassell added eight, Kristyn Clark two three-pointers for six and Kelsey McGee and Lauren Wasson two each.
Central will travel to Bradley Central for the Holiday Inn Tournament in Cleveland. The Lady Wildcats will face West Memphis (Ark.) at 3:30 p.m. CST Friday. They will also play Saturday and Sunday.

Fast start fires Tigerettes past Hermitage Springs
HERMITAGE SPRINGS — Watertown used a fast start and balanced scoring to handle Hermitage Springs 52-31 Tuesday night.
The Tigerettes led 16-4 following the first quarter and 31-8 at halftime to pull even at 1-1 for the season.
"We shot the ball real well in the first quarter and put it away early," Watertown coach Jeff Luttrell said.
Forward Amanda Montgomery threw in 13 points while center Miaushia Thompson added 11. Guard Brittnee Sells also scored 11, sinking three 3-pointers. Sarah Reeder racked up a pair of triples for six while Ashley Bogle finished with five and Carly Smith, Paige Miller, Lauren Lewis and Hannah Forbes tossed in two each.
Elissa Mclerran scored 16 points for Hermitage Springs.
Watertown will travel to Hendersonville Christian on Monday for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
Sports Editor Andy Reed can be reached at 444-3952 ext. 17 or by e-mail at andy.reed@lebanondemocrat.com.