Watkins Memorial’s Hannah Smith defends against Licking Valley’s Danielle Cappano. The Panthers defeated the Warriors 43-38 on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015.

Watkins Memorial’s Emma Hock goes for two against defense from Licking Valley’s Morgan Gusset and Breann Butler. The Panthers defeated the Warriors 43-38 on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015.

Watkins Memorial’s Madison Gullet looks for a way around Licking Valley defender Breann Butler. The Panthers defeated the Warriors 43-38 on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015.

HANOVER – “Tiny” came up plenty big for Licking Valley on Tuesday.

Licking Valley’s Laney Griffith goes for two on a breakaway against defense from Watkins Memorial’s Rylan Perry. The Panthers defeated the Warriors 43-38 on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015.

Lexie Stevens-Stough, a 5-foot-11 sophomore post player, rallied the Panthers with a big third quarter, then delivered the game-clinching assist at the end as Valley scored a 43-38 Licking County League Buckeye Division win against visiting Watkins Memorial.

“She played lights out,” Valley coach Duane Wood said. “She had been struggling, but she made a lot of headway tonight, and hopefully, she has turned the corner.”

“We surprised ourselves, but also came out knowing we could beat them,” Stevens-Stough said.

The Panthers (3-2, 2-1) may have turned the corner too, beating a veteran Warriors’ team many picked to contend for the Buckeye title. But Watkins (3-2, 1-1) played without senior leader Lexi Denison, who averages nearly a double-double but was battling illness. Coach Jayme Gates, however, refused to use that as an excuse.

“It hurt us, especially on rebounding. Valley crashed the boards and had a lot of putbacks,” Gates said. “But they played really well. They executed their game plan and stayed within their means, while we didn’t. We’re supposed to be that veteran team and might have put a lot of pressure on ourselves, tried to do too much. We just need to settle down and play our game.”

Hunter Rennie hit a pair of 3-pointers and had eight third-quarter points, rallying Watkins from a 20-16 deficit to a 24-20 lead. But Stevens-Stough took over, scoring nine points in the final 3:06 of the quarter. She scored off a long pass against the press from senior Morgan Gossett, and drove to score with the left hand and convert a three-point play. Valley led 30-26 and never relinquished it.

Freshman post Addicyn Crane came off the bench for a big three-point play down the stretch, and classmate Laney Griffith turned a steal into two foul shots and a 37-30 lead midway through the fourth. The Panthers led 41-38 late when Stevens-Stough heaved a pass the length of the court to Griffith for the clinching basket.

Behind senior post Emma Hock’s 11 first-quarter points, Watkins led most of the first half until Valley found its footing. Gossett hit Bethany Rutherford for a layup on an inbounds play, and she later fed Stevens-Stough for a layup and 20-16 halftime edge.

“We work a lot on those (inbounds and long pass) plays and game situations,” said Gossett, who scored 12 points, had nine rebounds and tallied three assists. “Tonight, we played to our potential and didn’t let up like we had in the last two games. We’re pretty young and we’re small in size, but we’re quick and have some big bodies to work with down low. Our younger kids are getting better.”

Stevens-Stough finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Griffith, who was sick before the game, still had three assists and two steals.

“We were able to maintain that lead when we got up by spreading the floor and not trying to run and gun,” Stevens-Stough said. “We ran the inbounds a lot better because we were able to read the defense and know where they were going to be.”

Hock led Watkins with 13 points, while Rennie added 11 points and 10 rebounds and Liz Fafiade also had 10 boards. The Warriors had a 36-29 rebounding margin, but made only 4 of 11 foul shots while the Panthers were making a strong 13 of 17 for 76 percent.

“We hadn’t been reading our keys right (on the inbounds), but I thought we did tonight,” Wood said. “Plus, we attacked the basket well, and made our foul shots. We’ll struggle at times with such a young team, but if we play like that, we might be 5-0.”

dweidig@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8557

Twitter: @noz75

Stat book

Watkins Memorial 11-5-10-12 — 38

Licking Valley 10-10-10-13 — 43

Watkins Memorial: 16-46 FG, 4-11 FT, 2 3 pt. (Rennie 2), 36 rebounds (Rennie 10, Fafiade 10), 12 turnovers, 10 Assists (Rennie 3), 7 Steals (Rennie 3). Scoring: Rennie 4 1-2 11, Perry 2 2-3 6, Hock 6 1-6 13, Fafiade 1 0-0 2, Gullett 1 0-0 2, Smith 2 0-0 4.

Licking Valley: 14-39 FG, 13-17 FT, 2 3pt. (Thomas, Gossett), 29 rebounds (Gossett 9, Stevens-Stough 6), 16 turnovers, 10 Assists (Griffith 3, Gossett 3), 8 Steals (Griffith 2). Scoring: B. Rutherford 1 2-2 4, Griffith 1 2-2 4, Thomas 1 0-0 3, Cappano 0 1-2 1, Garrett 1 0-0 2, Gossett 5 1-2 12, Butler 0 2-2 2, Stevens-Stough 4 4-6 12, Crane 1 1-1 3.