The two-pronged attack of Tori Hardy and Whitney Knight helped second-seeded Reynolds pull away in the fourth quarter to defeat top-seeded Mount Tabor 51-42 in the championship game of the Mary Garber Holiday Classic last night at Atkins.
Hardy finished with 17 points, and Knight, a 6-1 transfer from Bishop McGuinness, finished with 16 and was named the most-valuable player.
By defeating two-time defending champion Mount Tabor, Reynolds won its first championship since 1998, according to Coach Monty Gray.
Gray said the difference in the game was that his team pushed Mount Tabor out to make it uncomfortable for its outside shooters.
"We just told our girls they have to play great defense, just stop fouling" said Gray. "That was the main thing. We stopped fouling, moving our feet and we wanted to see what they were going to do. When they took shots, we got the rebounds."
The Demons went ahead 41-36 on a layup by Marni Vinluan with 3:28 left and a free throw by Fleming with 3:10 left. Jilian Palmer of the Spartans (2-1) made the front end of a one and one with 2:58 left to make the score 41-37, but then Knight took over. She hit a runner with 1:40 left, then stole the ball and was fouled by Millesa Calicott with 1:19 left. Knight made both free throws for the Demons to push the lead to 45-37. The Demons finished 18 for 25 from the line.
"They made their free throws and we didn't make our free throws," Coach Rick Anderson of Mount Tabor said. "I think that was the key to the game."
Genice Lane nailed a 3-pointer from the left baseline for Mount Tabor with 57.3 seconds left to make the score 45-40. But Miranda Martin made one of two free throws to push the lead to 46-40 with 55.8 left. Gabby Oglesby, who led Mount Tabor with 10 points, made two free throws with 54.9 left to make the score 46-42.
Knight said Reynolds just needed to calm down.
"In the first three quarters we were trying to go too fast, so we had to slow down, make better decisions, get better shots and play better defense," she said.
Hardy, a senior, said she wasn't disappointed about not make the all-tournament team.
"I feel like my whole entire team should be on there," Hardy said. "We all worked hard, we all worked together."
The all-tournament team also included Victoria Davis from Parkland, Kayla Adams from North Forsyth, Breanna Davis-Bloom from Carver, Oglesby and Kelli Bonner of Starmount.
In the third-place game, Bonner had 29 points as Starmount defeated Carver 52-47.
Carver led 14-7 after the first quarter, but Starmount took a 24-20 lead at halftime. Heaven Walters added 12 points for Starmount (2-1). Davis-Bloom finished with 19 and Molly Johnson had 11 for Carver (1-2).
Championship game
Reynolds 9 12 12 18 -- 51
Mount Tabor 9 12 11 10 -- 42
Reynolds (3-0): Naylor 2, Knight 16, Butler 3, Fleming 2, Hardy 17, Vinluan 2, Martin 9
Mount Tabor (2-1): Tate 3, Palmer 5, Gibson 4, Calicott 8, Lane 3, Penley 6, Oglesby 10
Third-place game
Starmount 7 17 15 13 -- 52
Carver 14 6 15 12 -- 47
Starmount (2-1): Baldwin 5, Bonner 29, Smith 2, Walters 12, Gough 4
Carver (1-2): Davis-Bloom 19, Stone 4, Johnson 11, Rhyne 7, Herring , Porter 4
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