Published: December 29, 2008 11:59 pm      

Lady Hornets stumble against Atascocita

After cruising past Lorena 52-32 in their opening game of the Willis tournament, the Lady Hornets fell to Atascocita 70-53 on Monday.

“We turned the ball over 20 times. We tried to do things that were atypical of what we normally do,” Huntsville head coach Devin Gabbard said. “Atascocita outscored us 17-2 in the first quarter, which put us in a big hole. But we didn’t give up and stuck with it.

“We were able to claw back to within five at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but at the point, we had exerted too much energy and we were spent. We trailed by 10 points and then started fouling down the stretch but they made their free throws.”

Sophomore Ronisha Major led the Lady Hornets (9-6) with 20 points, while junior Tayler Gray chipped in nine points.

In the first game, the Lady Hornets held a 20-point lead after the third quarter and then went into cruise control, allowing all their players a chance to get some minutes.

“Defensively, our goal is to keep teams below 40 points,” Gabbard said. “Midway through the third quarter, Lorena got gassed, which was good for us because it allowed to play everyone and give our starters some rest for this three-day tournament.

“But it wasn’t easy. They made us earn what we got. This is probably one of the best-coached teams we’ve played all year.”

Major led Huntsville with 10 points.

The Lady Hornets will play Kingwood Park today at 10:30 a.m.

“We’ve got to eliminate turnovers,” Gabbard added. “We’ve got to be able to compete against these teams, because these are all playoff-caliber teams. These are the kinds of teams we can expect to see in the playoffs.”