Gate City girls rally falls short in Mountain 7 Quarters at Abingdon

ABINGDON — Consistency was the message from Gate City Lady Blue Devils head coach Kelly Houseright following Monday's Mountain 7 Quarterfinal at Abingdon. The Lady Devils lacked it to open the district tournament after they fell 39-36 to the Lady Falcons, despite rallying from a 16-point second-half deficit. "First half, we were doing some uncharacteristic things," Houseright said. "But in the second half, I guess we woke up and decided we were going to start playing and we did. We made a ballgame out of it, had opportunities to win it." Gate City (9-12) entered the fourth quarter trailing 36-30, and leaned on its defense down the stretch. It slowed the game down to a stalemate until Candi Keller was finally able to break through with a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:40 left to halve the deficit. Over a minute later, Addison Keller tied the game at 36 with a triple of her own. Following another scoreless trip down the floor for Abingdon (14-7), the Lady Devils looked to take the lead with over a minute left. Gate City looked to kill time and pass the ball around the perimeter, but was called for a turnover after the ball went out of bounds. The Devils' bench was adamant the ball was deflected out, but the call stood. "We just had to go to the next play," Houseright said. "The score was tied at that point. In this game, you've got to have a short memory and have that next play mentality. You can't let things like that determine the outcome of a game. You've just got to play through it." On the next trip down, the Lady Falcons were able to break through against the stingy Lady Devils. Annsley Trivette knocked down a layup with under a minute to play to put Abingdon back on top, 38-36. They were points 19 and 20 for Trivette. "A lot of our kids – especially the young kids – they look to Annsley," Lady Falcons head coach Jimmy Brown said. "They look up to her. A lot of times when she tells them to relax, it's a lot more meaningful than coming from me." Following an empty Gate City possession, the Lady Devils had to play the foul game to extend the contest. They sent Elizabeth Nichols to the line with seven seconds left, where she split the pair. Gate City got the defensive rebound, but struggled to get the ball up the floor as time wound down. Then, Trivette came up with a steal and called timeout with a second left to ice the game. Gate City came out of the gates looking to control a slow tempo, and that they did. Due in part to eating up the clock with their first two possessions, the Lady Devils held Abingdon scoreless for nearly three and a half minutes to open the contest. Finally, the Lady Falcons found the board thanks to the school's all-time leading scorer in Trivette. The North Carolina State signee hit a midrange jumper to tie the game at two. Still, the Lady Devils led for much of the period after that and only trailed 10-9 heading into the second quarter. The Lady Falcons began the fresh frame on a 6-0 run and out-paced Gate City 13-2 in the second period. Both of those points were from the charity stripe, as the Lady Devils were held without a field goal for over nine minutes. The hosts scored the first four points of the third quarter before Candi Keller knocked down a 3-pointer to end the long Gate City field goal drought. It cut the deficit to 13 points and sparked a 14-1 Lady Devils spurt that lasted for nearly four minutes. Trivette ended the run at the 2:40 mark of the third quarter with a layup through contact. While she missed the free throw, the Lady Falcons got the offensive rebound and turned the trip into a five-point possession, quelling the Gate City momentum. Still, the Lady Devils worked the deficit to three in the closing seconds of the third. That was until Trivette beat the buzzer with a running 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Kellers led the Lady Devils in scoring, as Addison had 15 points and Candi had 10. Gate City will now look to the Region 2D Tournament next week after wins by Union and Ridgeview on Monday. "(I hope) they understand we've got to put four of those quarters together like we did in the last two," said Houseright of the tournament. "If we do that, we give ourselves an opportunity to win in these close ballgames. "I feel like in the recent games that have been tight like this, we've played well for two quarters and didn't play well for two quarters. So if we can put four quarters together, it'll be interesting to see what can happen." Up Next Abingdon will travel to Wise Central on Wednesday for the Mountain 7 semifinals.