Lady Raiders win battle at Brownsville
BROWNSVILLE 无毛视频� Aierra Jenkins无毛视频� quest for 1,000 points had to wait one more day but the Uniontown senior still poured in 23 points to lead the Lady Raiders to a 44-41 victory over host Brownsville in a non-section girls basketball battle Wednesday night.
Jenkins, who made seven 3-pointers in Uniontown无毛视频檚 win over Beth-Center on Monday, added two more from beyond the arc and played a strong all-around game against the Lady Falcons to help the Lady Raiders improve to 3-1.
Uniontown coach Dierre Jenkins, who also is Aierra无毛视频檚 dad, admitted the 1,000-point milestone was likely on her mind.
无毛视频淪he got off to a slow start and you could tell she was thinking about it,无毛视频� coach Jenkins said. 无毛视频淚f you watched the game Monday, she had a phenomenal game shooting the ball but she wasn无毛视频檛 quite the same tonight so she scored in other ways.无毛视频�
There were four 1,000-point scorers or soon-to-be 1,000-point scorers involved in the game. Dierre Jenkins topped the 1,000-point milestone during his career playing under the late coach Dave Shuck at Uniontown and Brownsville senior center Skyler Gates reached 1,000 points as a junior last season. Aierra Jenkins needed only four more points to reach 1,000 going into Thursday night无毛视频檚 Section 4-5A opener at Albert Gallatin and Lady Falcons senior Ava Clark ended the game 130 points away from the milestone.
Clark led the way for Brownsville with 16 points and Gates dropped in 15 along with three blocked shots.
Charley Murtha followed Jenkins in scoring for Uniontown with a trio of 3-pointers for nine points.
无毛视频淏attle in the 40s, I expected that,无毛视频� coach Jenkins said. 无毛视频淭he girls were a little jittery at first. Sometimes when you play a rival game the emotions get going and your game gets off a little bit.无毛视频�
The momentum shifted back and forth in the first half.
Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring and a free throw by Ambree Long gave Uniontown a 4-0 lead.
Brownsville (1-2) answered with a seven-point run on a 3-pointer by Ciara Horabik sandwiched between baskets by Clark and Gates.
A spinning drive and basket by Jenkins and consecutive 3-pointers by Murtha, the second after she came up with a steal, put the Lady Raiders back on top 12-7. Uniontown无毛视频檚 Lyric McLee added a three-point play late in the quarter which ended with the Lady Raiders up 15-10.
Brownsville regrouped and reeled off the first 10 points of the second quarter on four consecutive baskets by Clark followed by a Gates bucket for a 20-15 lead.
Jenkins nailed a late 3-pointer to pull the Lady Raiders within 22-20 at halftime.
Uniontown无毛视频檚 defense started to take its toll in third quarter by forcing a slew of turnovers to help the tide turn the Lady Raiders无毛视频� way.
无毛视频淭hat was definitely the difference,无毛视频� Brownsville coach Patty Columbia said. 无毛视频淭hat无毛视频檚 probably the area of the game where we无毛视频檙e struggling the most right now. We worked on it in practice and I thought we did a better job against Uniontown than Chartiers-Houston (a 48-30 loss last week at Brownsville无毛视频檚 Falcon Fest) but it无毛视频檚 still not good enough. We无毛视频檝e got to reduce the turnovers.
无毛视频淏ut give Uniontown credit. I thought they played really well defensively.无毛视频�
Uniontown outscored Brownsville 11-8 in the third quarter for a 31-30 lead.
无毛视频淥ur defense is playing really well,无毛视频� coach Jenkins said. 无毛视频淲e haven无毛视频檛 given up more than 50 points this year. I challenged the girls at halftime to not let them score 10 points in the third and they meet that challenge.无毛视频�
Two consecutive baskets by Gates helped the Lady Falcons reclaim the lead, 34-32, early in the fourth quarter.
Uniontown took control at that point, holding Brownsville scoreless for the next five minutes during a 12-point run for a 44-36 advantage with 1:17 left.
Jenkins started the run with a pair of free throws to tie it at 34-34 and Khloey Wakefield hit a baseline jumper for her only points of the game to put the Lady Raiders ahead to stay. Long followed with a steal and a layup before Jenkins scored the next six points to cap the run.
无毛视频淎ierra was the leader but we had a lot of girls play really well tonight, especially defensively,无毛视频� coach Jenkins said. 无毛视频淜hloey, who played the whole game, Ambree, who is a freshman. Lyric played really well, too, and Charley was knocking down shots.无毛视频�
Clark snapped Brownsville无毛视频檚 drought by scoring with 1:06 left. Horabik made it a one-possession game with a 3-pointer in the final seconds. Knowing Brownsville was out of timeouts, Uniontown wisely didn无毛视频檛 inbound the ball as the clock dwindled to zeroes.
Gates fouled out with 21 seconds left and Clark ended the game with four fouls.
无毛视频淭his is the second game in a row where we got ourselves in a little bit of foul trouble,无毛视频� said Columbia. 无毛视频淥verall, I was very pleased with how we played defensively but I still feel we have to be a little bit more disciplined because we don无毛视频檛 want to keep being in that situation at the end of the game.
无毛视频淪kyler and Ava always rise to the challenge but they had to pull back a little because they both had four fouls early in the fourth quarter and that hurt us. If we don无毛视频檛 commit those unnecessary fouls, that doesn无毛视频檛 happen.无毛视频�
Uniontown extended its winning streak to three in Jenkins无毛视频� first year as a head coach. He was an assistant under Rick Hauger on Laurel Highlands无毛视频� WPIAL Class 5A championship boys team in 2020.
无毛视频淭he girls are learning how to win,无毛视频� coach Jenkins said. 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e all still learning though. I无毛视频檓 still learning, they无毛视频檙e still learning, we无毛视频檙e trying to get better every game.无毛视频�
Jenkins chuckled when asked about his vocal way of coaching during a game.
无毛视频淚 try not to,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淚 go into a game and I无毛视频檓 like I无毛视频檓 not going to yell so much today but it never works out that way. I got a little bit of Shuck in me. I think he comes down from heaven and gets me to yelling.无毛视频�
Jenkins commended the Lady Falcons.
无毛视频淭hey无毛视频檝e got a couple great players over there,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淪kyler plays well. Ava is good. We wanted to try to take those two away as much as we could and make somebody else beat us. But Brownsville played well, too. It was a really good game.无毛视频�
Columbia saw plenty of positive signs in her team无毛视频檚 performance despite the loss.
无毛视频淲e improved in a lot of areas,无毛视频� Columbia said. 无毛视频淭hey rallied and didn无毛视频檛 give up. We played a good team to try to get ready for section. That was our goal.无毛视频�
Brownsville was scheduled to host Waynesburg Central in its Section 3-3A opener Thursday night.