It was a rough trip down to Lawrence County Tuesday night for Creek Wood.
On the road facing undefeated Summertown teams, Creek Wood just never could seem to find a rhythm.
The Lady Red Hawks fell 43-56 while the Red Hawks came up short 66-78.
Again neither team ever looked comfortable and that may very well be because Summertown has one of the more unique courts in the state.
A gym akin to something out of Hoosiers, and a court that while legal, is four feet shorter than the standard court like Creek Wood sees in their home gym, really affected both the girls and guys squads.
The Lady Red Hawks put forth a valiant, or at least their best player did.
Brianna Burgess scored twenty-eight, eleven in the fourth quarter alone, too try and will her team back in the game.
However, it came down to the absence of Laura Nichols and the superior post play of Summertown.
Without Nichols, who is just as capable as Burgess of creating offense for herself, the Lady Red Hawks just could not score points in the bunches needed.
The other starters for this team, Bryanna Moore, Alessia Nesbitt, Kendall Bryant, and Abby Owen, while capable of scoring are not quite at a level where if the system breaks down they can create offense like Nichols and Burgess.
On the flip side, as good as Moore is capable of being down low and as good as Creek Wood as a whole is at denying interior passes, when facing off with an elite post player, they were just outgunned and outclassed.
Katie Burdette towered over anyone else on the court in both physical presence and height, and it showed.
Held to just seven points in the first half, Burdette made it a point to get the basketball and find the bottom of the net finishing with twenty-two points.
She also had near double-digit blocks. Including three on one possession for Creek Wood.
Meanwhile on the guys’ side, while the Red Hawks certainly struggled in several facets of the game, it was the foul shooting discrepancy that changed the course of the game.
Summertown went 24/30 from the charity stripe while Creek Wood shot just seven and made five.
Because of that, the Red Hawks never could get in a rhythm.
Creek Wood of course had several guys in foul trouble and also could not take advantage of their superior athletes.
Much like Burgess, the Red Hawks best player gave it his all but wasn’t enough.
Jace Herrell, who may be the only player not to get into foul trouble, put up twenty-two points, ten of which came in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, Gavin Burleson had thirty, and nearly half of it, thirteen, came at the line.
A team should never shoot so many FT’s that they could miss half and still win.
That being said credit to Summer town for shooting eighty percent from the line.
Creek Wood will look to redeem themselves Friday night at home.
Montgomery Central will come to town for an old-school rivalry game.
Can the Red Hawks stay out of foul trouble? Will Laura Nichols return for the Lady Red Hawks?
Find out Friday starting at 6 pm, pre-game at 5:45.
