By ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph

Girls game: Honaker 55, Haysi 52

The Honaker girls won the opener in another hotly contested game that was tied eight times with six lead changes.

Honaker led most of the fourth quarter, but Haysi (12-7, 5-4) tied it at 50 on two free throws by Sydney Counts with 2:36 left to play.

Tara Deel scored on a baseline jumper to put Honaker back up, and next possession Madison Musick made a nice move inside to score giving Honaker (13-6, 7-2) a four-point advantage. They also stepped up their defense, forcing three turnovers in Haysi’s final five possessions.

“I was pleased, especially with the girl’s defensive effort,” Honaker coach Misty Miller said. “I thought we played a good game. We knew going in, these final two weeks of the regular season were very important to us.”

Honaker stayed within striking distance of league leaders Northwood and Twin Valley. They both have one conference loss and Honaker has two. They have a huge game at Northwood tonight.

Laken Robinette dominated inside with 14 rebounds for Honaker. Deel and Leah Elswick led the Tigers in scoring with 11 points each. Megan Ray had six points and also snatched six steals.

Montana Robinette continued her outstanding play with 20 points for Haysi and Hannah Mondrage added 12 points.

HONAKER

Deel 4 2-4 11, Ray 2 2-6 6, Shelton 1 2-4 4, Miller 1 1-6 3, Robinette 2 1-3 5, Musick 4 0-2 8, Elswick 3 4-5 11, Vandyke 0 0-0 0, Meade 3 1-2 7. Totals 20 13-31 55.

HAYSI

Mondrage 4 6-7 12, Robinette 6 3-6 20, Hyden 2 0-0 4, Edwards 3 2-2 8, Counts 1 2-2 4, D. Fuller 0 0-0 0, G. Fuller 1 0-0 2, Yates 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 13-17 52.

Honaker.........................13 10 22 10 — 55

Haysi..............................14 12 15 11 — 52

3-point goals — Honaker 2 (Deel 1, Elswick 1), Haysi 2 (Robinette 2). Total fouls — Honaker 16, Haysi 21. Fouled out — none.