The Mountain Times

Lady Phantoms keep their winning streak alive by defeating Rivendell

Photo by Stacy Bates
Coach Chris Hughes calls a time out to calm his girls down after Rivendell tied the game in the final minute. Proctor scored to win 52-50 to improve their record to 5-0 this season.

PROCTOR-The Varsity Lady Phantoms gave tribute to the 1984 woman's champion basketball team and their coach at the beginning of their game on Saturday, Jan. 5. The Phantoms went on to win an exciting 52-50 victory over Rivendell, which sustained their undefeated season thus far, with a record of 5-0.

The first quarter saw both teams struggling on offense. Rivendell was playing tough defense and rebounding well but not putting the ball in the basket. Proctor wasn't getting enough movement on offense and their risky passing was resulting in turnovers.

Then midway through the quarter, Proctor forward Carly Trombley came and was a force underneath on both the defensive and offensive boards helping  Proctor get their fast break game going. She was fouled on a rebound and made both her free throws giving Proctor a 15-14 lead after the first quarter.

Proctor mixed it up in the second quarter switching from a zone trapping defense to man-to-man causing Rivendell to make turnovers. Not only was Proctor's defense creating scoring opportunities but they were doing a much better job of collapsing in the middle shutting down the Rivendell forwards and preventing scoring opportunities. Proctor started to hit their outside shots and their accuracy hitting foul shots gave them a 31-23 point lead at half time.

The start of the third quarter saw the Proctor offense sputter a bit but Rivendell was too. Proctor started to find their rhythm crashing the boards. The Phantoms held Rivendell to only one scoring opportunity.

Rivendell's forwards kept them within reach during the fourth quarter. The energy of the game shot up as Rivendell went to a full court press causing Proctor confusion but Proctor coach Chris Hughes called time out to try and settled his team down. Proctor held onto a 1-point lead with 1:35 left in the game when a Rivendell player's shot rolled in and out of the basket causing the hometown fans to hold their breath and then gasp in relief.

Rivendell then made a critical mistake when one of their players fouled Mikayla McCormack with just over a minute left in the game. McCormack hit her first shot of the 1 on 1 and then her second to give Proctor a 50-47.

Rivendell came right back down the court and scored a 3-point shot tying the game at 50-50 with 54 seconds left. During the final seconds Rivendell threw the ball out of bounds giving Proctor a scoring opportunity. Proctor brought the ball down, swung the ball around the key until they found Carissa Elrick open in the post. Elrick took the pass from Mikayla Tanner and made a great move to score and give Proctor a 52-50 lead with 22 seconds left. Rivendell had one more chance to tie it up or win but Proctor defense came up big with a steal and then managed to hold onto the lead when the buzzard sounded keeping their undefeated record in tack.

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