Olympic rallies past Hough at Olympic girls Thanksgiving Classic
The final game of the girls’ basketball Olympic Thanksgiving Classic was a defensive and low-scoring affair. Trailing the entire game and by five points entering the fourth quarter, the Olympic Trojans rallied for a 37-32 win over the Hough Huskies.
Olympic outscored the Huskies 17-7 in the final frame, paced by senior center Emily Barr and forward Jada Brigman. Barr had eight of her 10 points in the final quarter, while Brigman had seven of her team-high 17 points in the final eight minutes.
While happy with the win, Trojans’ coach Jessica Freeman was disappointed with her team’s defense.
“In the first three quarters we weren’t playing Olympic defense,” said Freeman. “But once we put pressure on and did the things we work on in practice, coming in to help, coming in the middle, the traffic and communicating, then you could see the difference in our defense.”
Both teams were cold at the start of the game and took turns turning the ball over. It took four minutes for Hough to get the game’s first basket. The absence of scoring continued the entire first half as the Huskies led 16-14 at the break.
With four minutes left in the third quarter, Hough built its’ biggest lead of seven points, leading 23-16. Carrying a five-point advantage into the fourth quarter, the switch finally came on for Olympic.
“We’ve got to be a better team starting off, we’ve got to come out hard and continue that intensity the whole game,” said Brigman. “We came out a little bit soft but eventually we learned and understood what we needed to do to get the win tonight.”
THREE WHO MATTERED:
Jada Brigman, Olympic – led the Trojans in scoring with 17 points, including seven in the decisive fourth quarter.
Carolina Swartz, Hough – Led all scorers with 21 points and had nearly 70% of the Huskies points.
Emily Barr, Olympic – The Trojans’ second-leading scorer with 10 points, including eight in the fourth quarter to aid the comeback.
WORTH MENTIONING:
In the game prior to the Olympic-Hough game, the West Charlotte Lions bested the Cabarrus Charter Academy Huskies 59-37.
Olympic didn’t take its first lead (27-25) until six minutes remained in the game on Barr’s two free throws. The Trojans built a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter (35-26) before settling for the five-point victory.
WHAT’S NEXT
Hough will play next on Tuesday when it visits Lake Norman Charter, while Olympic will also play Tuesday when it travels to East Mecklenburg.
THEY SAID IT
“We all have a team goal. We talk about it every week. Ultimately, there is not a banner for us up in the gym for girls’ basketball, not one. Right now we’re just trying to work in that direction and do whatever we need to do to get that championship.” Freeman on the season’s goals for Olympic girls’ basketball.
RECORDS: Hough (1-3); Olympic (4-1)
Hough 6 10 9 7 -- 32
Olympic 5 9 6 17 -- 37
(Hough) Carolina Swartz 21, Madelyn Bell 4, Polito 3, Nia Bell 2, Mroz 2.
(Olympic) Jada Brigman 17, Emily Barr 10, Scales 6, Hutchinson 4.