Goodrich girls basketball got their first win of the season in the home opener Friday, defeating Hemphill 59-37 after a strong first-half performance.
A swarming Lady Hornet zone defense kept Hemphill scoreless for most of the first quarter. The visitors were allowed just one made shot in the period. Meanwhile, Goodrich converted turnovers into easy buckets on the other end.
Natalie Norris continued to be a nuisance for the Hemphill offense with several steals. Aaliyah Wright paced the offense with several shots at the rim. Hemphill was still forced to settle for outside shots through most of the second. At the half, the home team led 32-12.
Hemphill found success driving the lane in the second half, but Goodrich had built too big a lead for it to impact the outcome.
Wright led Goodrich in points with 24, rebounds with 13, and blocked shots with three. Tanyreauna Criswell had 14 points, seven steals and seven rebounds. Bra’Niyah Wyatt had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Norris had five points and seven steals, while Liseidy Balbueana had four points and two steals.
After a handful of years away, Khadijah Carter is once again the head coach at Goodrich. She has the girls playing a strong 2-3 zone defense and running the court for easy transition buckets.
“I'm excited,” Carter said of the win. “That is pretty much what we did at Martinsville (in the season’s first game). I feel like that is our strength right now in the 2-3. Luckily, today we had just gone over if they have that one person, we're going to do a box-and-one, so that's what we did. We were trying to stop anything from the inside first.
“I like the effort, the grit, and the grind. We need to work on getting the ball inside a little bit more, and looking up to shoot whenever we are open. The 2-3 was pretty good. We have to work on helping in the middle.”
Playing with only six Friday, the girls will soon get Cherish Chism and Tamia Figgs, both of whom will return from injury.
This week, the Lady Hornets will play in the Shepherd tournament a few miles down Highway 59. Next week, they play host to Big Sandy in a noon tip.
