Lady Yoe fall to Academy, defeat Caldwell

The Lady Yoe basketball team fell to the Little River Academy Bees on Tuesday 39-26. 

The Lady Yoe were not able to score a basket until one minute left in the first quarter on a layup by Kaly White as they went into the second quarter down 9-4. Still, they were unable to score a basket in the second and only scored free throws and were outscored 17-4 and went into halftime down 26-8. 

One of the big weapons that the Lady Bees used against the Lady Yoe was their play in the paint, as that was where they scored a lot of their points in the first half. 

“We made adjustments defensively to really focus on not allowing the entry pass into their dominant post player,” Coach Ashton Miller said. “We changed our defensive personnel to create a better match up in the paint and that helped slow down their offense.”

The second half was improved. The Lady Yoe seemed more aggressive as they were tougher on rebounds and steals. 

“During halftime we really just talked about our strengths,” Miller said. “What is something we are good at that we weren’t doing in the first half? What can we do to dictate the game and stop allowing them to get what they want on the offensive end?” 

“We stopped focusing on what the opponent was doing and instead refocused on our game play and played to our strengths which we weren’t doing in the first half,” she said.  

They picked their aggression on defense, forcing many turnovers, only allowing four points in the quarter. Even with all the improvements they had made in the second half, they went into the fourth quarter being down 30-15. 

The ladies continued to play tougher on both ends of the floor going into the fourth quarter, as they gave up only nine points the whole quarter. They outscored them 11-9, but however, it was not enough to pull off the comeback as they were defeated by the Lady Bees. 

The Lady Yoe leading scorers were Kaly White with nine, Ja’Kerra Holt with five, and Averee Wadlington with four. 

Another problem for them were the struggles they had shooting the three-point shot, but Miller isn’t too worried about that. 

“We have some really athletic posts players in the program, so while we were rebuilding our team we really focused on our post play and playing to our personnel at the time,” she said. “This year is the first year since I’ve been here where we have some great, young guards that we can work into our offense more and not rely solely on our post play. Our three-point shooting will come around with the continuous work our guards are putting in during practice everyday and with better decision making on the offensive side.” 

They will now fall to 2-4 in district play and their overall record is now 6-11. They will take on Florence at Yoe Gym on Friday and that game will tip off at 6:15 p.m. 

The last time these two teams squared off was on Dec. 15 when they lost to Florence 42-35. The Lady Yoemen on Friday look to even up the season series. 

“Our game plan going into Friday is just continue to focus on our strengths, continue to build and work on executing our offense to get what we want instead of forcing unnecessary shots, and to play with the same effort, encouragement and enthusiasm that we played with in the fourth quarter tonight during the entire game against Florence,” Miller said. 

With both the Lady Yoe and Florence having the same district record of 2-4, this will be a key game for the Lady Yoe to bump up one spot in the district standings.

The Lady Yoe got a big road win over Caldwell 49-45 on Friday night.

Yierra Flemings lead the ladies with 15 points. Ja’Kerra Holt added 12 points on the night.

Others scoring were: Kaly White with 10, Averee Wadlington with seven and Mia Wimmer with three.