Lady Jags defeat Fuquay in battle of depleted teams

Click to view image

By J. Mike Blake, mblake@newsobserver.com

RALEIGH - As the buzzer for halftime sounded, the girls basketball coaches at Athens Drive and Fuquay-Varina each had matching sighs of relief.

Their teams were struggling to overcome early-season injuries, and it showed in a first half where each side had just four made field goals apiece.

Athens Drive was hoping to find the right chemistry with one starter just returning from a concussion and another still out for the same reason. The visiting Bengals, down to just seven healthy players, were just trying to hold everything together as two players are out with ACL tears and two more sat out for school-related reasons.

The Jaguars (2-7, 2-3 Tri-Nine) seemingly handed over two things to Fuquay on Thursday – a 40-36 loss, and a full-blown case of bad luck.

“We (once) dropped four girls in one game,” Daly said of his team’s start of the season where he lost two to injury and two more to academics. “We’re young and we don’t have our chemistry yet because of so many lineup changes.”

Fuquay coach Monte Bullock can relate.

To read rest of story and see photos, click here -