Bravo!

Roddy christens 1,000-point club induction with winning night for Lady Govs

William Blount senior Lindsey Roddy receives an ovation from the crowd prior to Friday night’s game for becoming the program’s eighth member of the 1,000-point club. Photos by Wallace Bowden

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

The biggest crowd to see a game in Blount County this season is on hand.

Public address announcer Gary Stinnett, a baptist preacher, whips that same big crowd to fever pitch during pregame ceremonies.

The other seven members of the 1,000-point club are here, including Blount County all-time full-court scoring champion Angela Puleo, a former Georgia Lady Bulldog and Vanderbilt Lady Commodore.

It’s senior night, and you’re playing Maryville for first place in the district.

OK. We can dig it.

Lindsey Roddy, the Barley’s/Blount Press Row Player of the Week, led the way with 16 points — minutes after the William Blount senior was recognized for becoming the program’s eighth member of the 1,000-point club — and the Lady Governors held off the Lady Rebels, 65-59, Friday night at Marvin Boring Gymnasium.

“I just tried to focus on the game,” Roddy said. “If we didn’t win, that other stuff didn’t matter.”

Prior to the game, William Blount coach Todd Wright presented Roddy with a plaque at center court recognizing her achievement.

“(The Lady Governors) see how hard she works,” he said. “She’s the first one in the gym before practice, and she’s the last one out, and it shows.”

The win put the Lady Governors (20-6, 11-2 4AAA) alone atop the district standings. William Blount, which clinched a berth in the region tournament with the win, travels to Bearden (20-5, 10-2) on Monday to decide the regular season district championship.

The contest was moved up a day in anticipation of inclement weather.

The Lady Bulldogs host Farragut on Friday in a makeup game postponed earlier this season because of snow.

Summer Morris, Abbey McGuire, Lexi Campos, Taylor Goforth and Roddy combined to go 14-of-16 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to withstand a Maryville charge that got within two with 2:19 remaining.

Goforth, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard, was 5-of-6 from the line in the closing minutes.

“We talked before the game that if we got down, we just had to keep pushing through,” Goforth said.

Campos and Goforth followed Roddy into double figures with 13 each, both draining a pair of 3s, with Summer Morris just back with nine points.

The Lady Governors, who built double-digit leads in each half, also got five and a 3 from freshman Alyssa Walker and four from Kelsey Hughes. They would need every bit of it.

Juniors Madison Coulter and Anna Ray, super freshman Courtney Carruthers and junior Olivia Pepperman led a Maryville surge out of the locker room, cutting an 11-point halftime deficit to one with a minute to play in the third.

Coulter, playing on an injured foot, delivered an explosive effort to lead all scorers with 21, including a pair of treys. Ray pumped in 12, including two 3s, with Carruthers hitting three times from long range to finish with 11.

Pepperman, hampered by foul trouble, finished with eight, Abbie Anderson five.

Maryville knocked down eight 3-pointers.

Now, to why we’re here.

It’s not always the points you score. Often, it’s when you score them.

Maryville was right there with 1:45 to play in the third after Coulter made good on a bucket in traffic, was fouled and converted the free throw. It really meant something.

The Lady Rebel prospect suffered a stress fracture in her foot during preseason conditioning. She’s in a walking boot — even at school – when she’s not on the court. Some advised she not play at all this season. A college prospect in volleyball as well, it was something to think about.

Yet, here she was, in the biggest game of the season, pouring it on.

William Blount had to answer. It had to answer right now. Somebody, and, on this night, there was really only one person that somebody could be, had to take over.

That Roddy reached 1,000 points in her high school career is no small thing. For much of her time in a William Blount jersey she’s deferred to teammates. An All-State pentathlete with truly amazing hops, she is, at heart, a pass-first player.

Now, William Blount needed her to just go!

“Lindsey Roddy is a super player,” Coulter said. “I, literally, learned from watching her play.”

Tennessee Tech is one of the schools still evaluating Roddy as a college prospect. We’ve got ties with the Lady Eagles that go way back and would love to see her in that jersey. In the hopes Tech coach Jim Davis goes ahead and pulls the trigger on a scholarship, we humbly offer the final 54 seconds of Friday’s third quarter.

It began with a Roddy step-back 3 at the head of the circle, opening the Lady Governor lead to 42-38.

Getting hold of the ball at the defensive end on the ensuing possession, Roddy lofted a 3/4-court feed to Campos on the break, extending the lead to a 44-38 advantage.

OK. That was nice.

What else you got?

A Maryville turnover put the ball in Roddy’s hands yet again with the clock under 10 seconds. Sweeping to the basket down the lane, she put it home with two seconds to play in the quarter. Fouled on the drive, she converted the free throw to open William Blount’s lead to 47-38 to start the fourth.

Bravo!