The Weatherford Lady Eagles won their home opener, against Cache 63-28 Tuesday.
“We had lots of great looks on offense,” coach Grant Givens said. “The ball did not fall early and we did not play our best early. Luckily, our defense generated some easy points on fast breaks and this built a cushion for us in the first half. Shots began to fall in the second half and points began to generate.”
Weatherford began to make more shots toward the end of the first quarter, with plays like Katen Daniel stealing a pass and Jordan Hoffman scoring on the fast break off the turnover. Weatherford outscored Cache 8-3 at the end of the first quarter and was ahead 11-5 at the end of the first quarter. The Weatherford defense forced six turnovers in the opening quarter.
The Lady Eagle defense allowed just three points in the second quarter. Weatherford kept forcing turnovers and scoring layups on fast breaks and was ahead 27-8 at halftime.
Addy Hoffman, scored six points in the third quarter for Weatherford. She scored off of two layups and was fouled each time and made both free throws. The Lady Eagles was ahead 49-16 going into the fourth quarter. Jordan Hoffman scored a 2-pointer buzzer beater.
The fourth quarter was both benches playing. Weatherford continued to play hard and near the end of the game, the game was stopped as Addy Hoffman was honored as she was a member of the 1,000 point club last Friday at the Community Christian Tournament. She had scored 958 points going into the tournament and got her 1,000 point in the semifinal game against Bethany.
Addy Hoffman scored 20 points against Cache and won the game 63-28. Jordan Hoffman scored 13 points and recorded seven rebounds.
“Addy and Jordan played well,” Givens said. “They always play great defense and both of them together generate a good bulk of our points and when they are on, it allows other girls to have open looks because teams guard Addy and Jordan harder.”
Weatherford forced 17 turnovers which allowed the Lady Eagles to score easy layups.
“We did a great job putting pressure on the ball,” Givens said. “This caused them to have to handle the ball and get out of their rhythm, which resulted in lots of turnovers and easy fast break points.”
Weatherford was 100 percent from the foul line, going 9-9. Givens said the free throw shooting is improving.
“Going 100 percent from the free throw line is good,” Givens said. “This is something we struggled with the past few games, but we did not tonight. These are easy points and I was happy with getting those easy points.”
Not only did the starters play well, but reserves like freshman Harley Chism got some minutes and Givens said games like this are great for getting experience.
”Kennedy made some great post moves tonight,” Givens said. “She made shots and gained confidence seeing the ball go in the hoop. Harley has gotten some great minutes in varsity games and this is great experience which can help us later down the road in a situation like the area finals or the state tournament.”
“We are going to have to play really good defense,” Givens said. “It should be a great game and I am excited for Friday. Offensively, we have to take care of the basketball and take anything they give us. If our defense can generate points for our offense, we should be in good shape.”