SPA CITY SHOOTOUT

Lady Leopards tighten defense

— Alivia Huell and the rest of the Malvern Lady Leopards put a lock down on Lake Hamilton in Monday night’s championship game of the Spa City Classic.

Huell scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and the Lady Leopards limited Lake Hamilton to six points in the second half on their way to a 49-31 victory at the Summit Arena.

“We talked at halftime that we really needed to turn up the defensive intensity,” Malvern Coach Jess Martin said.

Lake Hamilton (9-3) scored the final five points of the second quarter to trim Malvern’s lead to 27-25 at the half.

But the Lady Wolves committed 8 turnovers and hit 1 of 6 shots in the third quarter as Malvern (14-1) built a 38-27 lead heading into the final quarter. Malvern had 5 of its 11 steals in the third quarter, including 2 each by juniors Tiffany Murdock and Akasha Westbrook.

“We handed them the ball,” Lake Hamilton Coach Brandi Higginbotham said. “We didn’t hit a shot. We didn’t attack. It was if their defense blew our minds, and it was just a 2-3 zone.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 01/01/2013

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