SHELBY — Norwalk’s Kaelyn Harkness held down the fort until reinforcements arrived Saturday afternoon.
A senior guard, Harkness scored 20 of her game-high 23 points in the first half as the Truckers rumbled to a 58-28 win over Lexington in the Richland Source Challenge at Shelby High School.
Harkness outscored Lady Lex by herself in the first half as the Norwalk (5-2) built a 30-14 advantage. She was 7-for-8 from the field and connected on 4 of 5 3-pointers.
“She was big for us,” Norwalk coach Brock Manlet said. “We were struggling and she hit some big 3s for us to extend the lead because we were just out of sorts.”
Lexington (5-1) trailed 14-8 after the first quarter before Harkness began to flex her muscle. She scored the first five points of the second quarter on a traditional three-point play and a mid-range jumper, giving the Truckers a 19-8 lead. Lady Lex trimmed the deficit to 21-12 on back-to-back buckets by Avery Coleman before Harkness drained a pair of triples and split a pair of free throws in the final 3:09 of the half.
“Harkness hit some big shots in the first half,” Lexington coach Connie Doutt said. “We’re a pretty big team and have good wingspan in our zone, but she shot over top of us.”
Lexington stayed within striking distance early in the third quarter and trailed 36-22 after Olivia Kearns split a pair of free throws with 2:57 remaining in the period, but Norwalk closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to take a 46-24 lead to the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t play our best, but we grinded it out,” Manlet said. “We made a couple of runs and were able to distance ourselves a little bit.”
The Truckers forced 21 turnovers resulting in 28 points. Lady Lex scored just six points off nine Norwalk turnovers.
“We knew this was going to be a tough matchup and I just felt like we were always playing from behind,” Doutt said. “Their guards are big and athletic and they play well as a team.
“We probably needed this really to see where we are at. We haven’t played a team of this quality before and we learned what we need to get batter at.”
Jasmine Thomas backed Harkness with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Bethany Cring added 10 points.
Kearns and Gabby Stover each had seven for Lady Lex. Emilee Parker added six points and six boards.
