By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
SAND ROCK – So far in the early part of the 2024-25 basketball season, Sand Rock girls coach Lisa Bates likens her team to a squirrel in the road that can’t decide which way to go.
The Lady Wildcats made a move in the right direction in their home opener against Fyffe on Tuesday.
Sophomore guard Maddie Clanton collected a game-high18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Sand Rock to a 53-41 victory.
“With this group you never know who’s going to step it up and do well,” Bates said. “We’re coming off a year where one person scored so much. We’ve just got to settle it down, but we’ve got the tools to be successful.”
Sand Rock (1-1) jumped out on a 10-0 run early and led 19-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Wildcats maintained a 30-15 advantage at halftime and led 44-28 after three quarters.
Fyffe managed to make a bit of a run in the fourth, cutting Sand Rock’s lead to 12 with 5:30 remaining off a made front-end free throw by Neveah Smith, but a made jumper inside the paint by Molly Grace Lay and a 3-pointer by Peyton Johnson pushed Sand Rock’s lead out to 17 at 49-32.
“I thought we played hard,” Bates said. “It’s a much bigger gap if we hit our free throws, but I thought we played some pretty good defense. We rebounded extremely well. We had 51 rebounds as a team and that’s a lot.
“We’re young and they’re going to make young mistakes, so I’ve just got to be patient with the turnovers. This team’s going to grow because they play hard.”
Lay earned eight points, eight assists and six steals for Sand Rock. Johnson also scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds. Kaylee Burns contributed eight points, six rebounds, a steal and a block. Macey Pruitt delivered five points, nine rebounds and two steals. Paitlyn Hughes finished with five points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Sam Galloway led Fyffe with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Kendra Fay finished with six points.
“It’s good to get a win early,” Bates said. “We needed that to show this group that they can win against good teams. Fyffe is very scrappy, and I thought we held our own with them.”
Sand Rock travels to Hokes Bluff on Thursday.