It was not going well for the Hopewell Lady Titans Tuesday night.
Visiting Hough had led much of the game and had just extended its lead to seven points with 3:19 to play, and in such a low scoring game, the lead may as well have been twice that number.
Points were not coming easily and the odds were stacked against either team making a run of any significance, much less a comeback.
But something sparked the Titans at that point, simultaneously zapping the Huskies and keeping Hopewell perfect through three meetings with its second-year rival.
Hopewell scored the game's final 15 points to win 44-36, scoring more in the last three minutes than it had in the previous 13 minutes of the second half to take a win away from the Huskies.
"I think we just sat back too long and looked at how they were going to play the game," said Hopewell's Shareé Boyd, the game's top scorer with 17 points. "We actually waited kinda late to turn the light on."
Boyd, who moved from the wing to the point guard spot to fill in for starter T'Shea Glenn, said the team picked up its play following a timeout near the four-minute mark. Titans coach Gary Richmond asked his team in the huddle, "Who wants it more?"
"I guess that got everybody going," said Boyd. "We all looked at each other and kinda knew we had to step up."
Hough (4-4 overall) led by five points when Richmond called his timeout and matched the game's largest lead on a basket by Emily Cowie with 3:19 to play. Meanwhile Hopewell (6-3) wasn't even getting shot attempts early in the fourth quarter. The Titans were 0-for-2 shooting, but had turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter alone.
"We were getting impatient on offense," said Richmond.
The tide began changing when post player Tiera Burks flipped a pass out to Bryanna Curry at the top of the key. Curry buried a three, cutting the lead to four. The Titans had not scored in the previous 5:24, but it took them just 40 seconds to score again when Boyd drew a foul and sank both free throws, trimming the lead to 36-34. Then, Burks tied the game with a basket with 1:45 to play, and Hough coach Sonja Tate called timeout in hopes of calming down her team and setting up a score.
But the Huskies turned the ball over out of the timeout, and Boyd made them pay with a drive to the basket that produced a trip to the foul line.
She hit both free throws, giving Hopewell its first lead, at 38-36, in more than two quarters. Hough missed its final four shots and had three turnovers in the last three minutes.
Curry added two free throws and a layup in the final minute, and Boyd's two free throws with 16 seconds left put the finishing touches on Hopewell's second I-Meck Conference win, while Hough dropped to 1-1 in league play.
Cowie and Kelsey Dean led Hough with eight points each.
Hough defeated Vance 59-36 last Friday in its I-Meck opener behind 13 points from Brandi Arey and 12 from Anna Diggs. The Huskies host rival North Meck this Friday.
Hopewell dropped West Charlotte 53-40 in its I-Meck debut, led by Boyd's 17 and Curry's 10, and will play at Lake Norman Friday.
Richmond said his team can learn from its win Tuesday.
"We're getting there," he said. "This will help."
