Campbell County had faith they would survive Tuesday’s girls basketball game against Walton-Verona.
The Camels had Faith, too.
Junior guard Faith Whitford’s two free throws with 5.4 seconds left helped bail out the Camels in Tuesday’s 61-59 win over Walton-Verona.
Whitford’s free throws put Campbell County ahead, 60-59.
“I tell you what, it’s been a season of close games, and Faith has stepped up in the fourth quarter of every game,” Campbell County coach Davey Johnson said. “She is not afraid to shoot the big shots, she’s not afraid to get to the line and make the free throws.”
The Camels also improved to 4-2 thanks to Izzy Jayasuriya’s 18 points, Kendall Augsback’s 15 and Whitford’s 14.
“We just keep fighting the whole game,” Jayasuriya said. “We never give up.”
Walton-Verona’s 5-2 start was nonetheless its best since a 4-2 beginning in the 2021-22 season. Credit the Bearcats’ trio of seniors Campbell Christy and Braylin Terrell, who average 13.8 and 11.5 points a game, respectively – Terrell also grabs just under 11 rebounds per contest – and sophomore Elin Logue, who leads the team with 15.8.
Tuesday, Terrell and Christy scored 19 and 17 points, respectively, and Ava Hargett added 10.
What Walton-Verona coach Rianna Gayheart also might want you to know is, her team has averaged 58.2 points and allowed a shade over 41 with two projected starters, sophomores Emily King and Ava Kendall, missing. King is gone for the year with a torn anterior cruciate knee ligament, and Kendall suffered a bone bruise in her left foot before the season started.
Campbell County, meanwhile, averaged 62.6 points a contest going into Tuesday. Jayasuriya leads the Camels with 14.2 points and 8.8 rebounds, and freshman Kendall Augsback is next in scoring with 14.0. (Augsback has made 51.9% of her shots, including 47.8% of her 3-pointers.)
But none of the aforementioned statistics pleased Johnson even a little – he’s upset with the 64 points a game allowed.
“We’re not very good at guarding,” Johnson said before the game. “We’re scoring a lot.”
Johnson hopefully was happy at halftime – the Camels held the Bearcats to just five points in the second quarter, took a 34-21 lead, and limited Terrell to four points.
“We were active, we were talking, we were communicating,” Johnson said.
Different story in the third stanza. After Jayasuriya’s and-1 gave Campbell County a 37-21 lead, Terrell scored nine points in a little more than five minutes – part of the Bearcats’ 23-13 run – while the Camels managed just five points in nearly five minutes.
“That’s been our bugaboo the whole year,” Johnson said. “Once teams get going, it comes at a downhill effect for us. We’ve got to learn how to stop that quicker.”
Walton-Verona just missed on a fourth straight victory.
“It’s just about battling for us, our level of toughness, convincing them we’re capable of competing with anyone in the state,” Gayheart said. “We’ve just got to go out there and prove it.”
Whitford’s bucket with 3:54 left in the fourth broke a 52-all tie. Christy’s 3 and Terrell’s off-balance bucket put Walton-Verona ahead, 57-54, with 1:33 left.
After Whitford’s free throws, Jayasuriya stole Christy’s inbounds pass and made a free throw.
CAMELS 61, BEARCATS 59
WALTON-VERONA 16 5 23 15 – 59
CAMPBELL CO. 17 17 13 14 – 61
Walton-Verona (59) — Christy 17, Logue 3, Fuller 4, Vonhandorf 3, Hargett 10, Terrell 19, Dryden 3. 3-Pt. FG: 4(Christy, Logue, Vonhandorf, Dryden). FT: 15-22. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.
Campbell County (61) — Barbian 3, Mullins 2, Davis 2, Peoples 3, Augsback 15, Whitford 14, Brockman 4, Jayasuriya 18. 3-Pt. FG: 10 (Augsback 4, Jayasuriya 2, Whitford 2, Peoples, Barbian). FT: 7-11. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None.
Records: Walton-Verona 5-2, Campbell Co. 4-2.