HAGERSTOWN – Kevin Murphy was in a hate-love kind of mood.
The Williamsport girls basketball coach got what he came for at North Hagerstown on Thursday, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.
He’s probably one of those melon-thumpers in the grocery store. Everything was ripe, but it could have been riper.
It was that kind of reaction to the Wildcats’ 36-35 win over North Hagerstown. It was good, but …
“You hate to say anything bad about a win,” said Murphy, who did anyway.
“I just wasn’t happy with the way we played in stretches. We didn’t take good shots. We were careless with the ball. It wasn’t a typical Williamsport team. It’s early in the year and it’s just one of those things. But the defense, since we shot 21%, it kept us in the game, really.”
It was a solid defense that almost cost Williamsport a win, because it was too good.
And add to it the late arrival of a wildcard of a hero to give the Wildcats just enough to hold off the Hubs.
On this night, Briley Kennan came to Williamsport’s rescue with 19 points, even though she didn’t start scoring until the last 64 seconds of the first half to become the Wildcats’ only scorer with double figures out of necessity.
North held a 19-9 lead with 1:45 remaining in the half. Kennan came out of a Williamsport timeout – one taken to clean up Kevin Murphy’s concerns listed above – shooting the ball. She scored a 3-pointer and two layups in the final 64 seconds to move the Wildcats to within 19-16 at the half.
“I just had to show up for my team,” the junior said. I knew they were going to take away our best shooter, Mac – McKenna Murphy – and Rileigh (Cole). I had to step up.”
It was a good thing, too. Williamsport was facing two defenses on this night – the one played by the Hubs along with the Wildcats were playing.
“Our defense, they ran around,” said North coach Charles “Sleepy” Burnett. “It was a zone defense, but they wanted to get their hands up on the shooter. We were focused on their best shooter, Murphy, and we keyed on (Abbagail Curry).”
It worked, since the pair had one point between them in the first half.
But Williamsport’s defense almost became as menacing to the Wildcats themselves, as well as the Hubs.
The Wildcats clamped down on the Hubs in sticky fashion as North had trouble finding shots. The Hubs trained the shot clock on three occasions and came down to the final seconds a couple of other times.
Williamsport didn’t have much to show for it, with poor shooting and nearly no transition game.
“What they were doing, they were smart,” Kevin Murphy said. “They were running clock and clock and clock and they were getting down into late on the shot clock. We were getting shot clock violations on them because our defense was really good. But that tires your players out and we go down and turn it over.
“You’re playing defense for 30 seconds and the players get tired. the offense was riding the back of the defense for a while. It’s a tough situation.”
Things changed when Kennan came out of that fateful timeout.
“She can shoot. And one of the things we have talked about lately with her is have confidence,” Kevin Murphy said. “I told her before the game, ‘Look. We are going to give you looks. Knock them down. But if you miss the first one or two, keep shooting.”
Kennan followed directions. She scored eight of Williamsport’s 14 points – including two 3-pointers – in the third quarter and four of the six in the fourth quarter.
The game became a low-scoring battle in the second half.
Williamsport tied the game at 22 with 4:30 to go in the third quarter on a layup by Cole. The teams traded the lead three times and tied four times until the Wildcats took a 30-27 lead on a Kennan 3 right before the end of the period.
Peyton Schnebly buried a 3 to open the fourth quarter to move North into a 30-30 tie.
Arisa Hardy hit a 12-foot shot in the lane to give Williamsport a 32-30 lead with 6:52 remaining. From there, the Wildcats maintained the lead, withstanding another Schnebly 3-pointer to hold on for the one-point win for their fourth-straight victory.
“It just wasn’t pretty basketball at our end at all,” Kevin Murphy said. “But hey, you hate to say anything bad about a win. Give them credit. North played extremely hard, which we knew they would. Give Sleepy and his kids credit.”
Four Wildcats followed Kennan in the scorebook with four points each.
Schnebly led North with 12 points, all coming on four 3-point shots. Anna Chamberlain and Aaliyah Allen added eight each.
And in this case, Burnett was able to appreciate the Hubs’ moral victory.
“Our girls put everything out on the floor. They put in a lot of effort. Two or three of them played the entire game. I’m proud of them,” he said.
This was a big step for us. We’ll get healthy. If we can get everyone healthy on the same page, we will compete.”
Oakdale 64, South Hagerstown 24
Aniyah Freeman scored 16 points for the Rebels in a Central Maryland Conference loss to Oakdale.
Freeman added six defensive rebounds, three steals and six blocked shots.
Khloe Terralonge added six points with four steals for South.
