The Houston seventh girls’ basketball team rallied past Ava 26-24 Friday night to win the Liberty Tournament.
After leading 13-10 at the half, the Lady Tigers trailed by two entering the fourth quarter. Houston had an 11-7 advantage in the final quarter to win the championship.
“It always feels great to win a tournament title,” Lady Tigers coach John Jordan said. “It hasn’t always been pretty, but these kids play hard and find a way to win.”
Sarah Kelley led Houston (11-3) with nine points. Autumn Walker scored seven and Makayla Koch had six.
Houston also squeaked out a two-point win — 16-14 against Liberty — in Thursday’s semifinals. Walker scored 11 points for the Lady Tigers, who overcame 4-of-19 shooting at the foul line. Kelley and Sydney Cremer had two points apiece.
“The kids played hard and we had many good shots,” Jordan said. “We couldn’t get anything to fall and 4-19 at the free-throw line at some time is going to come back and bite you.”
On Monday, Houston was held to a season-low point total in a 22-8 home loss to Licking.
Chloe Morning led the Lady Tigers with four points. Walker scored three.
“We couldn’t hit a shot and had silly turnovers,” Jordan said. “Our strength has been our effort, and it wasn’t there tonight.”
EIGHTH GRADE: Kylee Elmore scored a team-best 10 points in the Houston eighth grade girls’ 27-20 loss Friday to Ava to conclude the Liberty Tournament.
Megan Silveus added seven points for the Lady Tigers, who trailed 16-4 at the half.
“I was proud of the fact that we never gave up after our slow start,” Jordan said. “We would cut it to two and then turn it over. We need to be more consistent for four quarters.”
In Thursday’s semifinals, Nora Dixon scored nine points and Silveus had seven in a 33-22 loss to Liberty.
After falling behind 13-4 in the first quarter, Houston was outscored by two points the rest of the way.
“A slow start and we never recovered,” Jordan said. “Their pressure really hurt us. I did think we played some good man-to-man defense in the second half.”
The Lady Tigers also trailed big early in the first half of Monday’s game. Licking raced ahead 18-0 in the first quarter and won 45-35.
Silveus led Houston with 15 points.
Box scores
Monday’s game
Licking 18 9 8 10 — 45
Houston 0 8 12 15 — 35
HOUSTON (35) — Megan Silveus 15. Kylee Elmore 9. Haylee Walker 5. Maggie Shelton 4.. Nora Dixon 2.
Friday’s game
Houston 2 2 10 6 — 20
Ava 8 8 2 7 — 27
HOUSTON (20) — Kylee Elmore 10. Megan Silveus 7. Nora Dixon 3.
Thursday’s game
Houston 4 6 8 4 — 22
Liberty 13 6 9 5 — 33
HOUSTON (22) — Nora Dixon 9. Megan Silveus 7. Kylee Elmore 4. Hayley Walker 2.
SEVENTH GRADE
Friday’s games
Houston 3 10 2 11 — 26
Ava 6 3 8 7 — 24
HOUSTON (26) — Sarah Kelley 9. Autumn Walker 7. Makayla Koch 6. Krista Scott 2. Shelbi Cremer 2.
Thursday’s game
Houston 2 6 6 2 — 16
Liberty 2 5 7 0 — 14
HOUSTON (16) — Autumn Walker 11. Sarah Kelley 2. Sydney Cremer 2. Makayla Koch 1.
Monday’s game
Licking 4 7 2 9 — 22
Houston 3 2 1 2 — 8
HOUSTON (8) — Chloe Morning 4. Autumn Walker 3. Sarah Kelley 1.