Fourth-Quarter Surge Pushes Hawthorne Girls Basketball Past P.K. Yonge

The Hawthorne girls basketball team improved to 15-3 after beating P.K. Yonge 46-33 Wednesday night for its 12th consecutive win.

The Hornets outscored the Blue Wave 19-5 in the fourth quarter to secure the win at the P.K. Yonge gym. 

A Defensive Start

The game started out as a defensive battle, which was no surprise to Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram, who said he knew P.K. Yonge (11-7) was a well-coached team. 

“Before the game, I actually told my girls I had the utmost respect for [P.K. Yonge] coach Willie Powers and what he was able to do for girls basketball in our area,” Ingram said. “You knew coming in here his girls would be ready to play. 

After the first quarter, the score was 6-6. Both teams implemented a 2-3 zone that neither offense could figure out. At the beginning of the second quarter, Ingram called for a full-court press to put pressure on P.K. Yonge’s guards. Hawthorne maintained control throughout the first half to lead 15-12 at the break. 

Ashlyn Young Makes It A One-Point Game

Both offenses started to heat up in the second half. P.K. Yonge point guard Ashlyn Young started to get hot in the third quarter, scoring seven of her team-high 14 points.

Hawthorne guards De’Mya Adams and Lakijah Brown responded with six points each in the quarter. A buzzer-beating 3-point shot by Young cut the Hawthorne lead to one (27-26). 

“We are running away from the best player in the gym,” Ingram said of Young during his speech to the team at the quarter break. “One shot gets her going. She’s going to keep shooting. Why are we leaving her?”

Hawthorne Dominates Fourth Quarter

Adams hit a 3-pointer in their Hornets’ first possession of the fourth quarter and went on to dominate both offensively and defensively for the rest of the game. Ingram switched defenses which halted P.K. Yonge’s third-quarter scoring run. 

“I knew I wanted to play man to man. My girls did a great job of moving their feet and being in position,” Ingram said. “Once we understood what we were trying to do in our man-to-man defense, it worked and it was flawless.”

The late defensive effort was coupled with an amazing offensive performance by Adams, who scored eight points in the fourth quarter despite being face-guarded in P.K. Yonge’s box-in-one defense. 

“When teams box-in-one me I have good other teammates so we just play through them,” Adams said. “We ran it up in the fourth quarter. We should have started out like that.” 

District Implications

Hawthorne, which hosts Chiefland (10-11) at 6 p.m. today, is hoping to ride the winning momentum into district play Wednesday. 

“To come in and get a win against a great opponent speaks volumes,” Ingram said. “We never flinched the entire game. We’ve been able to do that for the last 11 or 12 games.” 

P.K. Yonge hosts Williston at 7 p.m. Friday.