J.R. Tucker squeaks by Maggie Walker GS to remain undefeated in girls basketball

The early returns are in, and the J.R. Tucker Tigers are — how about this, folks? — 5-0.

“That’s crazy,” said veteran coach Mollie Pawlowski in the wake of her team’s 33-30 victory over visiting Maggie Walker Governor’s School Monday night. “I didn’t think it was going to happen because we’re so young. 

“I mean, this group plays together so well, and by playing together, they make each other so much better. They’re so unselfish. That’s so fun to watch.”

For both the Tigers and Dragons, the challenge early on was to shake off the rust that accumulated during the winter-break hiatus from game competition and establish some degree of offensive fluidity.

That’s easier said than done, of course, because both teams relied on baseline-to-baseline defense for much of the game and did all within their power to pester their opponents and harry them into turnovers that would result in offensive opportunities.

Case in point: A quarter in, the Dragons (5-3) held a 9-2 lead, and the teams shot a combined 1-for-21 from the field and committed 17 turnovers.

“It was a Monday, we hadn’t played in two weeks, and we knew it was going to be rusty, but they fought through it,” said Pawlowski, who’s coached Tucker for 37 years. 

“We told them, ‘You’re taking good shots. You have to keep shooting. Good shooters keep on shooting.’ And we told them to play harder defensively. That would give us momentum, and it built from that.”

Sophomore guard Marley Worsham scored seven of her 11 points in the second quarter, Hannah Joyner connected on back-to-back 3-pointers off Chloe Price assists, and the Tigers outscored Maggie Walker 16-7 to take an 18-16 lead into the break.

“They came at us with a couple of traps early on,” Pawlowski said, “but once we settled down and started beating that, they pulled that off, which gave us a little bit of breathing room.”

The third quarter, which ended with the Dragons up 24-23, featured more of the same: intense, passionately contested defense which created ragged offense, scrums aplenty, and bodies strewn about the floor as play scrambled to win 50-50 plays.

“Very rocky,” said Jahnise Taylor, a 5-9 senior guard and a Tucker captain, of the Tigers’ early performance.  “They were doing a lot of face guarding. We got uncomfortable. We knew coming into the game that they were going to press, but we weren’t ready, and it took us a minute to get back on our feet.

“After the first quarter, we got it together. The sub of (senior guard) Tess Vithoulkas really got us back together. We’re very team-oriented in general. We pick each other up, and once she got into the game, it positively affected the rest of the team.”

After Jamie Martin (15 points) hit a floater from near the right elbow to put Walker up 26-23, Jai Lynn scored from close range to cut the Tigers’ deficit to one at 7:10.

“My role is to help relieve the pressure,” said Lynn, a 5-11 junior center who finished with 10 points. “If my guards get stuck, I help them create space. I’m always getting double teamed.  Once I get double teamed, I’m looking out (to pass the ball back) to my guards. And when we need those layups, I’m the big help.”

Martin, a talented 5-8 junior with 1,089 career points, hit another floater from the foul line at 6:20, but Worsham’s steal and layup at 6:00 trimmed the difference to a single point.

On an in-bounds play from under the Maggie Walker basket with four minutes remaining, Vithoulkas alertly spotted Taylor free behind the defense. She put a well-placed pass into her hands near midcourt, and Taylor hit a layup that gave the Tigers a lead (29-28) that they never relinquished.

Two free throws by Worsham at 1:15 and two more by Lynn at 0:28 put Tucker up 33-28. 

Amidst a flurry of action, Martin penetrated the Tucker defense for a layup at 0:5.6 to provide the final margin.

“Everybody had to work together,” Lynn said. “It was drop everything that happened the last three quarters and finish strong.”