Published: December 15, 2009 11:16 pm      

Northwest girls slip away

Cook’s hot hand saves Lady Bruins

Dalton High’s girls basketball team thought it had a recipe for success against No. 8-ranked Northwest Whitfield on Tuesday night, but in the end it was a familiar foe — Jordi Cook — who helped the Lady Bruins escape with a win.

The Lady Catamounts held the Lady Bruins’ posts — 6-foot-6-inch Quaneisha McCurty and 6-3 Christy Robinson — to 10 points on their way to a 11-point first-half lead over Northwest.

But Cook matched her scoring output from last year’s Dec. 16 game against Dalton with a game-high 18 points that included five 3-pointers — and three free throws after being fouled shooting a 3 — to lead Northwest to a 47-40 victory at the Cats’ Den in a non-Region 7-4A contest.

It was the Lady Bruins’ (6-2) fourth straight win over the Lady Cats (5-3).

With Dalton’s defenders limiting Northwest’s scoring opportunities down low — McCurty and Robinson were each held to just one field goal and five points — Cook took control from the outside.

“They were sagging off of me and doubling down on our posts,” Cook said. “That was leaving me with a lot of open looks and I just stepped up and hit my shots.”

The Lady Cats opened the game on a 13-2 run, but Cook and Lady Bruins reserve Tori Clemmons kept Northwest in the game with six and five first-half points, respectively. McCurty’s lone field goal came off an offensive rebound with a second left in the half to make it 26-22.

Dalton opened the second half with a turnover and Northwest’s Baleigh Coley drilled a 3 to pull the Lady Bruins to within 26-25.

Three minutes later, Cook tied the game at 28 with a 3. Robinson gave Northwest its first lead of the game with three minutes left in the third quarter on a free throw, and her lone field goal early in the fourth quarter stretched the Lady Bruins’ lead to five. Dalton never made another run at the lead and eventually was forced to foul and Northwest put the game away with free throws.

Dalton coach Jeff McKinney said the difference in the game was the Lady Cats’ second-half offensive struggles, which included 1-for-8 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter.

“Defensively, I’m real satisfied with the way we played,” McKinney said. “We just didn’t score in the second half. We shot the ball poorly and didn’t execute at the end.”

Though Dalton came up short, guard April Besley, who scored a team-high 10 points, believes the Lady Cats can hang with not only Northwest, but the best teams in 7-4A.

“I think that we can be up there with those teams,” she said. “We just have to finish the fourth quarter. We have a hard time finishing the fourth quarter.”

On Friday, Dalton had another of the region’s top teams — Osborne — on the ropes, but let a late lead slip away in a 52-51 loss.