Lemon comes to Glass' aid

The E.C. Glass girls basketball team started a pair of freshmen, including point guard Aliya Austin, in its season-opener Monday against Heritage and the first-game jitters clearly showed as the Hilltoppers fell behind 8-0 in the first five minutes.

But Glass battled back and went into halftime tied at 19 with Pioneers. After the break, the Hilltoppers were sparked by a pair of buckets by Mary Grace Lemon in the final minutes of the third quarter and closed out the game with a 50-44 victory.

“We are a very young team and we are still learning how to play basketball,” Glass coach Van Porter said. “Basketball is a game of runs and, my gracious, you can’t panic. This was their first game today and if we had not won it wouldn’t have been their fault. We’re just having a great time.”

In all, the Hilltoppers (1-0) played four freshmen, a sophomore, three juniors and three seniors. Austin finished with five points, four assists and three steals.

“Austin played older than she is,” Porter said. “She stayed in the game the whole time and controlled the tempo of the game. It was good game for her. She handled the pressure and she was scared to death coming in. This will be a big confidence boost.”

The other three freshmen were Kaleigh Nolan, who started at center, Jasmine Long and Meshauna Wade. Long had five points and six rebounds.

Lemon, a junior forward, led the way for Glass with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. But more importantly she shined in the clutch for the Hilltoppers.

During the back-and-forth third quarter, it was Lemon who finally put some distance between Glass and Heritage over the last two minutes.

She read a cross-court pass, intercepted it and drove the length of the court for a layup. On the next possession she grabbed an offensive rebound and put the Hilltoppers up 36-30 with the stick-back. Lemon also grabbed a defensive board during the sequence.

“Mary Grace is a warrior,” Porter said. “She will do anything you ask of her. She’s a very accomplished basketball player and I’m looking forward to getting her out on the wing more where she wants to play when I get my big freshmen up running more.”

Lemon also put the last nail in the Pioneers’ coffin. The Hilltoppers were leading 45-40 with three minutes to play when she came off a screen to the top of the key and buried a 3-pointer. The Pioneers rushed back down the court and Lemon drew a charge from Heritage’s Christina Phelps.

For the Pioneers, Lemon’s drawn charge from Phelps summed up a frustrating night. It was Phelps’ fifth foul. She had been in foul trouble for most of the game. Phelps, one of Heritage’s better players, picked up her second foul with 3:31 to go in the first and Heritage leading 8-0. She picked up her third foul with 2:06 to go until halftime and her fourth foul with 3:50 left in the third.

Phelps finished with six points and three blocks. Deshauna Jackson led the way for the Pioneers (0-1) with 10 points, seven rebounds, three steals and four assists. Heritage also had a freshman standout — center Maya Hamlett scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds in her varsity debut.