CHAPEL HILL — The Lady Rockets were all hands on deck in their game at home against the Fairview Lady Jackets Tuesday night, where they walked away with the 51-39 victory. Although a slow start …
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CHAPEL HILL — The Lady Rockets were all hands on deck in their game at home against the Fairview Lady Jackets Tuesday night, where they walked away with the 51-39 victory.
Although a slow start for both teams, Forrest picked up steam in the latter half of the first quarter.
Eighth-grader Adisyn Howes found fellow eighth-grader Sienna Borba for an easy basket, putting the Lady Rockets up by three.
“I thought our eighth graders came in and gave us a nice little boost right there,” Forrest coach Hal Murrell said.
“It gives us some depth that we were struggling with before Christmas.”
It was Megan Mealer and Kinslee Inlow coming together late in the first with a pair of threes, with Mealer tacking on a nice move under the basket for an additional two, cushioning the lead at 14-7.
Freshman Kaylin Pope turned on the jets in the second frame, picking up six of her 11 points on the night.
“She’s so athletic,” Murrell said.
“She’s an undersized player. We’ve been trying to play her in the post and defensively, she struggles guarding a bigger girl in the post because of her size, but she’s so athletic that she can pressure the guards. So, I thought she did a really good job of shutting down their guard, No. 12. I can’t take her off the floor because she’s so athletic. She’s still making freshman mistakes, but the energy she brings is relentless. That’s one thing I never have to question about her. She’s doing a great job.”
Josie Brown kept the wheels turning for Forrest going into the half, knocking down the three ball with 30 seconds left, giving the Lady Rockets a 28-17 lead.
“I thought the first half was a lot of balanced scoring,” Murrell said.
“We didn’t do a good job of boxing out at times in the first half. We weren’t crashing the offensive glass.”
Returning from the break, it was a differently played game on both sides, both the Lady Rockets and Lady Jackets struggling to handle the ball and maintain consistency.
Thanks to frequent trips to the foul line, the Lady Jackets hung in through the second half, but had a tough time against the Forrest press, turning the ball over for the Lady Rockets to take advantage.
“We implemented a press, thought it was effective and disrupted what they were doing,” Murrell said.
“It was very obvious, too, that we hadn’t played in a week. There were a lot of mistakes, especially in the second half. I thought fatigue set in. The game was called a little bit different than it had been throughout the course the game. We gotta play without fouling. We have a lot of self-inflicted wounds that we need to clean up for the tournament.”
Mealer and Pope both led the Rockets with 11 each, Macyn Kirby also picking up double digits with 10.
“Macyn has been that person for us all year that carried it, and we’ve always said she can’t do it by herself, so it was good that we had other people step up,” said Murrell.
The Lady Rockets will meet Grundy County on Friday night in Chapel Hill for a district matchup.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 pm.
Forrest 17 11 10 13 — 51 Fairview 10 7 10 12 — 39
Forrest: Megan Mealer 11, Kaylin Pope 11, Macy Kirby 10, Kinslee Inlow 9, Josie Brown 3, Carli Warner 3, Sienna Borba 2, Sadie Smith 2 Fairview: Maddie Brewer 13, Emma Sharp 12, Anna Marie Brown 7, Addie Sullivan 4, Abby Huffman 2, Maddison McGowan 1 3-Point goals: Forrest (3): Inlow, Mealer, Brown; Fairview (2): Brewer, Sharp Halftime score: Forrest 28, Fairview 17.