Friday sports: Collierville hands Hernando girls first loss
Nov 22, 2024 Friday afternoon’s girls basketball game between Hernando and Collierville provided fans a lot. We had it all. Two undefeated teams were taking the floor at the My Town Movers Fieldhouse, each team featuring stellar players who knew how to find the basket and score the ball.
Not included in the ticket price, but as an add on, was a fire alarm that halted play in the opening seconds of the third quarter and caused the entire building to be evacuated for about a half-hour before players and fans could return and the game could continue.
Then there were the whistles. Plenty of whistles. The trio of officials called 26 fouls against Hernando and another 31 fouls against Collierville, for a total of 57 fouls called between the two teams, not including traveling violations and the sort. Three Dragons fouled out and another three from Hernando were sent to the bench before the final whistle.
In the end, Collierville used a run to pull away from what was a very competitive game and prevailed over the Lady Tigers 69-59.
Hernando (4-1) scored the first five points of the game but Collierville recovered to take a 17-11 lead after one quarter. Lady Tiger standout Fran Kelly scored five of her team’s 11 points in the opening eight minutes.
Hernando came back midway in the second quarter and a Fran Kelly three-pointer gave the Lady Tigers a 20-19 lead, a lead quickly erased by a Dragons basket. Kelly would end the half with 14 of Hernando’s 29 points as they trailed Collierville 32-29 at the break.
The halftime break became a longer break after 42 seconds were played in the third quarter. That’s when the strobe lights started flashing and the fire alarms sounded with everyone in the building asked to evacuate. The call to the fire department resulted in firefighters arriving and going through it before the all-clear was made after about a half-hour and the game continued.
Not long after that, Fran Kelly was fouled on a play and went down, writhing in pain. She was carried off and attended to by a trainer before she returned to continue playing. What appeared to be a serious injury turned out to just a tweak with no injury resulting.
“She just tweaked her leg,” Hernando coach Blake Jones said later. “She told us on the floor that she didn’t know what happened, they checked her out and their trainer said he didn’t think it was anything.”
Meanwhile, Collierville had outscored the Lady Tigers 20-15 in the third quarter for a 52-44 advantage at quarter’s end. The Lady Tigers had battled back to 44-41 when Kelly was hurt.
In the fourth quarter, Hernando stormed back into the game, trailing at one point by just 56-55, but could muster just four more points in the game while Collierville started a trek to the foul line resulting in the final score of 69-59.
Jones made a point that missed free throws were the difference for his team.
“We cut it to one down the stretch and we missed 21 free throws,” Jones said, “That’s the bottom line. We missed free throws, but we fought hard.”
Fran Kelly led Hernando with 21 points and Jaliyah Kelly added 17. Gemma Walker and Keristen Nevels each scored eight points for Hernando.
Collierville was led by Hilary Shikuku with a game-high 37 points, including 8-of-10 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. She was the only Dragon in double figures.
Hernando travels to play South Pontotoc next on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Friday, Nov. 22
Prep boys basketball
- Horn Lake 62, Lake Cormorant 47
Prep girls basketball
- Horn Lake 61, Lake Cormorant 46
- Collierville, Tenn. 69, Hernando 59
Prep boys soccer
- Lewisburg 3, Clinton 0
- Horn Lake 4, Center Hill 1
Prep girls soccer
- Clinton 2, Lewisburg 0
NBA G League
- Osceola Magic 102, Memphis Hustle 98
- Hustle: Colin Castleton, Malachi Smith-17 points each
AS SEEN ON X/TWITTER….
