Hartley-Watterson story
Going into last nights game if you would have told a Hartley fan that with a win over bitter rival Watterson they would have clinched their 2nd straight outright CCL championship when the season began they would have taken it. However Watterson played like a team that didn’t want that to happen. They came out and shot well early and Hartley missed some great looks from inside early leading to a 9-point first quarter deficit. Watterson continued to play well leading to a 30-14 lead at the half. Hartley played much better in the second half but turning Watterson over that led to easy baskets and feeding the ball inside. At one point they got the lead down to 9 points but Watterson had an answer for each Hartley run. Watterson got a key 3-point play from Elizabeth Rabold that stemmed the tied and Watterson never looked back. Watterson was led by their senior leaders Grace Jenkins who led all scorers with 21 points followed by Paige Woodford with 11. Hartley was led by Israel Strickland with 12 points. Hartley was playing this game without injured guard Kami Kortkokrax who’s been key for them all season and helped Hartley beat Watterson in the first meeting at home. With the loss, both Hartley and Watterson are 5-1 in CCL play. If both teams win their last conference game they will share the CCL championship. Hartley finishes with Desales and Watterson finishes with Ready. Watterson will be a tough out come tourney time.