NEWTON — Few basketball teams on any level can shoot foul shots the way Fred T. Foard's girls' basketball team did in the Tigers' 66-46 victory over Watauga in the first round of the Northwestern Conference Tournament Monday.

Foard, which plays Hickory Tuesday in the semifinals of the tournament at Hickory, made just 30-of-32 free throws — that's 93.7 percent — against the Pioneers. The Tigers made all 18 of their foul shots in the fourth quarter to keep Watauga from rallying from a 40-33 deficit at the end of the third quarter.

The Tigers outscored Watauga 26-13 in the fourth quarter to win the game.

“That's a number that if you're fortunate to have that number on your side, you're not going to lose many basketball games,” Pioneers coach Klay Anderson said. “I know some of those fouls were skewed because we had to foul the last three or four minutes, but they stepped up to the line and left no doubt. They're an outstanding basketball team and they've got great length.”

Watauga struggled to keep close with Foard after taking a 15-13 first-quarter lead. The Pioneers, after scoring the first two points in the second quarter on two foul shots by Kalie Eppley, did not score again until a Tasha Wilson stickback with 2:02 left in the first half. By then, Foard took a 26-20 lead, which slipped to 26-25 before Foard's Chelsea Hoyle buried a third-pointer to give Foard a 29-25 halftime lead.

Watauga rallied to close to 35-33, but was dealt a tough blow when Hannah Margolis picked up her fourth foul with 3:10 left in the third quarter. Margolis, who scored all of Watauga's eight points in the period, did not return until the fourth.

Foard scored the final five points of the third quarter to take a 40-33 lead into the fourth.

Margolis led the Pioneers with 14 points. Savanna Wood made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Whitney Dunnigan added nine.

“I'm really proud of what we did,” Anderson said. “I'm proud of the way we fought. We thought we had a good game plan to frustrate them early and we did. It really hurt us to get Margolis and (Haleigh) Wallace in foul trouble. But we played through just like we have done all year.”

It was not enough to overcome Foard's remarkably accurate foul shooting. Chelsea Turner made all eight of her foul shots and finished with 21 points. Kayla Whitworth made all nine of her foul shots and added 15 points. Brooke Robinson added 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. She made 7-of-9 free throws.

“(Foard's) girls were here last year,” Anderson said. “Most of them were on the varsity, so they've had a couple of years experience. Foard is outstanding. Robinson and Turner are a handful and they've got good role players to go around them.”

 

 

 

Fred T. Foard 66, Watauga 46

Watauga (7-16)

Wood 3 2-2 11, Dunnigan 3 3-5 9, Wallace 1 0-0 2, Eppley 0 2-5 2, Seamore 1 0-0 2, Margolis 6 2-2 14, Wilson 1 0-0 2, McNeill 1 0-0 2, Welsh 1 0-0 2, Woods 0 0-0 0, Derrick 0 0-0 0, Makarova 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 9-16 46.

Fred T. Foard

Danner 0 2-2 2, Hall 3 2-2 8, Gettys 0 2-2 2, Hoyle 2 0-0 5, Robinson 3 7-9 13, Whitworth 3 9-9 15, Turner 6 8-8 21, Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 30-32 66.

Watauga          15 10 8 13 — 46

Fred T. Foard  13 16 11 26 — 66

3-point goals—Watauga 3 (Wood 3), Foard 2 (Hoyle, Turner). Rebounds—Watauga 24 (Margolis 6), Foard 28 (Robinson 7). Turnovers—Watauga 23, Foard 16. Total fouls—Watauga 24, Fred T. Foard 15. Fouled out—Watauga, Wallace, Margolis; Foard, Hoyle. Technical fouls—None.