Lady Titans snag ragged win

MORGANTON — Whatever else it was, it was — in all likelihood — the ugliest game ever played between the McDowell Lady Titans and Freedom Patriots.
The two former Northwestern 4A Conference arch-rivals, who are used to playing in January and February with championships at stake, both struggled mightily on the offensive end in McDowell's 55-44 victory Tuesday in the first non-conference meeting between the two.
It was only the second game of the year for Freedom (1-1), and was the first road game for the Lady Titans (3-0). And it showed. The two clubs combined to shoot 33 percent (39-of-118) from the field and committed a combined 52 turnovers.
In the end, McDowell was better defensively and on the boards, out-rebounding Freedom 44-28 overall and 18-8 offensively.
The Lady Titans also had the game's most potent offensive threat, sophomore forward Tuccoa Brackett. The athletic, 5-10 Brackett buoyed McDowell offensively throughout the game, scoring 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting. She also pulled nine rebounds, with eight of them coming on the offensive end. Brackett scored 16 points in the first half, and at one point in the second quarter had personally outscored the Patriots 14-10.
"I thought we did some good things defensively in the first half," said Lady Titans head coach Brian Franklin. "In the second half, we missed some assignments and let them penetrate to the basket without any body help and had some breakdowns, and that's somewhere we've got to get better.
"The place where I was most disappointed was turning the ball over and not being strong. We've got to do a better job offensively of showing patience."
Brackett was the only McDowell player in double figures. Jaalen Corpening (6 assists, 5 steals) and Autumn Ward (10 rebounds, 5 steals, 4 assists) added nine each, but Ward struggled through the worst shooting night of her career, going just 1-of-17 from the field. Xandi Gellman (9 rebounds) added seven points.
Chelsea Connelly led Freedom with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Yolanda Connelly added 11 points and eight boards.
"Usually, with Freedom—McDowell, everybody has got a lot of games under their belt," said Pats head coach Amber Fox. "But it really looked like both teams were early in their seasons. I thought McDowell had a good game plan and their size gave us problems.
"We played passive offensively, and that caused us to turn the ball over. Defensively, at times we did some good things, but offensively, we were just passive."
The Lady Titans trailed briefly at 2-1, but went on a 10-0 run late in the first quarter and early in the second to take command. Brackett scored eight consecutive points — off assists by Madison Thomas (5 rebounds), Kaitlin Gallion (4 points, 4 rebounds), Ward and Corpening — and Ward hit a pair of free throws to make it 15-4 with 7:35 left in the second period.
McDowell led 25-17 at the half and pushed the advantage to as many as 14 when Ward's 3-pointer off a Mary Webb (4 points, 4 steals) assist made it 37-23 with 2:21 to go in the third.
The Lady Titans led 43-32 after three quarters, and Freedom only got as close as eight the rest of the way.
"I was really happy that we won the game, especially at Freedom on the road, and especially this early in the season," said Franklin. "You could see this was an early-season game for both teams. It gave us a chance to see some of the things we need to work on. Any time you win and still find out some things about yourself, that's a great thing."
The Lady Titans are at Watauga tonight (4 p.m. start—jayvee girls) and at Patton Friday.

MHS BOXSCORE
McDowell (55) Jami Medford 0-4 0-2 0, Kaitlin Gallion 2-4 0-0 4, Xandi Gellman 3-8 1-1 9, Autumn Ward 1-17 6-9 9, Jaalen Corpening 4-11 1-2 9, Tuccoa Brackett 9-16 2-2 20, Madison Thomas 0-1 2-2 2, Mary Webb 2-4 0-1 4. Totals: 21-65 12-19 55.
Freedom (44) Chelsea Connelly 4-12 4-5 12, Brittany Roberts 2-5 0-0 6, Twoey Pearson 3-7 0-0 6, Keonna Lewis 2-9 1-5 5, Jewel Walker 2-8 0-0 4, Yolanda Connelly 5-11 0-2 11, Erin Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Hayley Dale 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-53 5-12 44.

McDowell 11 14 18 12 – 55
Freedom 04 13 15 12 – 44

Rebounds: McDowell (44) Freedom (28) Rebound leaders: McDowell (Ward 10, Gellman, Brackett 9) Freedom (C. Connelly 10) 3-point goals: McDowell (1-14) Freedom (3-11) McDowell (Corpening 0-2, Ward 1-10, Medford, Webb 0-1) Freedom (Roberts 2-5, Lewis 0-3, Phillips 0-1, Y. Connelly 1-2) McDowell assist leaders: (Corpening 6) McDowell steals leaders: (Corpening, Ward 5, Webb 4) McDowell blocked shot leaders: (Ward 2, Gellman 1) Turnovers: McDowell (21) Freedom (31) Fouled out: Freedom (C. Connelly 1:09—fourth)