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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The Davie girls basketball team’s defense was a little leaky against Parkland in the CPC Tournament semifinals, but its offense was absolutely incredible in an 81-70 victory over the Mustangs.
“Coach (Debbie) Evans said it best: ‘Sometimes you win because of your defense and sometimes you win because of your offense,’” coach Lindsey Adams said. “Tonight our offense kept us in it. We weren’t necessarily happy with our defensive effort. But I have a team full of sophomores and freshmen and two juniors who were able to have answers at the end of the game and not choke under pressure when a championship game was on the line. That shows how much growth they’ve made in the past month or two.”
The semifinal was held at Reagan on Feb. 18. One day earlier, No. 1 Davie gave eighth-seeded Glenn at 79-17 shellacking. Vivian Vaughters dominated with 19 points, followed by Olivia Smith with 11 and Makenzie Gentry and Madison Daugherty with nine each. The Bobcats checked out at 0-21.
Vaughters and Davie were absolutely smoking in the first quarter against No. 5 Parkland. Vaughters had the first eight points for Davie, hitting a 16-footer, scoring inside with her left hand, converting a pair at the foul line and scoring on a drive.
“In the first quarter, Parkland didn’t guard her,” Adams said. “They were going to allow their big girl to sit in the paint and just be a protector. And Vivian had the first eight points. Vivian and girls coming off the bench – Londyn (McDowell), Lexi (Mickey), Madison, OJ (Smith) – can score and the girls know that. You’ve got to respect every player that we put in.”
When McDowell scored in the paint for a 20-12 lead, Davie was 8 for 9 from the field. At the end of the first quarter, when Davie had a 33-19 lead by hitting 11 of 15 field goals and 11 of 11 free throws, it was on pace for 132 points.
In the second quarter, Gracie Shore nailed a 3, drove for two and hit a runner at the buzzer. At halftime, Parkland was getting whacked 50-36.
The Mustangs, though, refused to roll over. They banged three triples in the third. Avarie Martin drained a 3 on her first long-range attempt of the night, but Parkland hit its sixth trey of the half to pull within 68-64. Moments later, it was 69-66.
“I’m not OK with us losing the lead like we did, but we needed a tough game,” Adams said. “We needed a challenge before going into the championship game and before going into the state playoffs. We’ve had two easy weeks. We haven’t had anybody test us in a while and we needed that.”
Parkland had hope for an upset, but Shore knifed into the lane and put the shot high off the glass and through the hoop. Then Shore grabbed a defensive rebound and sent a long outlet pass to Vaughters, who finished to give Davie a 73-66 lead. The War Eagles hit 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch as they surpassed 80 points for the second time.
Davie’s eye-popping offensive numbers: 29 of 53 on field goals for 54 percent and 20 of 25 from the line. Parkland, which hit 10 of 25 3s, fell to 16-10 despite outscoring Davie by 21 points from the 3-point line.
Shore had a monster performance as Davie (19-6) reached the most wins in 22 years (21-7 in 2002-03). The freshman point guard had 23 points, hit 11 of 13 shots, handed out seven assists and controlled six rebounds. Her previous scoring high was 16.
But it was hardly a one-girl show. Vaughters, who is averaging 11.3 points across eight games, had 14. Martin had 11 points and three steals. Bailey Aderhold had 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists, going 6 of 6 from the line. Gentry had eight points and five rebounds. McDowell had eight points and six rebounds as Davie extended its winning streak to eight.
“That’s one of the factors that we’re going to have to have in the postseason,” Adams said of Shore. “Before, she was able to be passive and have other people do things. Now you have teams helping off of her, thinking that she’s not a scoring threat because she’s a freshman. I keep pushing with her because she is capable of scoring. She has it in her. She’s finally being confident enough to do it. She can drive right or left and finish. This offseason she’ll get stronger and finishing around the rim will get better. She’s starting to shoot deeper shots.”
Davie 79, Glenn 17 – Vivian Vaughters 19, Olivia Smith 11, Makenzie Gentry 9, Madison Daugherty 9, Avarie Martin 8, Emmie Burris 8, Londyn McDowell 6, Bailey Aderhold 5, Gracie Shore 4
Davie 81, Parkland 70 – Gracie Shore 23, Vivian Vaughters 14, Avarie Martin 11, Bailey Aderhold 10, Makenzie Gentry 8, Londyn McDowell 8, Emmie Burris 3, Lexi Mickey 2, Madison Daugherty 2