SW girls leave little doubt in big win over Phelps (Ky.)

1 week ago 2

RACELAND, Ky. — Watching a team root one another on as it begins to realize its potential as a group is certainly neat to watch as a fan of any sport, in any aspect.

The South Webster Jeeps' girls basketball program is certainly well on its way to realizing its potential as a group.

Within the first two-and-a-half minutes of its contest against the Phelps (Ky.) Hornets' girls basketball program, South Webster sprinted out to an 8-0 advantage as Addi Claxon and Emma Campbell each hit three-point field goals while Ava Claxon scored on an inbound play.

The quick and decisive offense that South Webster sported was matched by an equally spirited defensive effort throughout the first three quarters of the Lady Jeeps' contest against Phelps, and it resulted in South Webster taking a dominating 35-10 halftime advantage and a 51-20 lead at the end of the third quarter, with the Lady Jeeps cruising home to a 51-39 win from there to move to 5-4 overall to close out the 2025 version of its 2025-26 schedule.

Considering that South Webster sported four freshmen in its starting five Tuesday and are 5-4 behind a starting lineup that has primarily featured senior Addi Claxon and freshmen talents Emma Campbell, Ava Claxon, Violet Edwards and Natalee Eskridge, it's certainly quite an accomplishment — and even a scary thought — to think that South Webster is 5-4 and beginning to realize its potential already with 80 percent of its starting lineup having just finished only their ninth game at the high school varsity level.

South Webster head coach Ryan Dutiel credits that growth to the unselfish, root for one another mentality that his roster has continued to take on.

"I have a really good group of unselfish players," Dutiel said. "Even our main scorers are very unselfish. They follow directions very well and they're happy for their teammates doing well. I'm proud of them for that reason, because it shows you the type of people that they are. They're really good with a big heart, a big will in their heart, and want their teammates to do just as good as they do."

In limiting Phelps to just 20 points over the first three quarters of competition, South Webster held the Lady Hornets to just nine field goals over the first 24 minutes, or an average of three per quarter, behind the energetic play of the five starters mentioned above as well as junior Eden Smith and sophomore Raelynn Humble, who spelled members of the starting five at different points.

The primary seven-player rotation gave Phelps leading scorers — senior guard Caleigh McCoy and sophomore forward Kaylyn Slone — fits for much of the game.

McCoy, a terrific guard who came into the contest averaging 24 points per contest on 50 percent shooting and a 42.4 percent clip from three-point range, was held to just one point in the first half and seven points through the first three quarters of play. McCoy finished with 22 points but scored 15 of those in the fourth quarter after South Webster emptied its bench.

Slone, meanwhile, was completely shut down, as the forward was held to just two points over the entire game. Her and Phelps junior Kadie Yates, who combined to average 22.3 points per game together coming in, were held to just 10 points combined in all.

"We came into it and wanted our girls to have a strong defensive effort right away, like we had just had one (Tuesday) at Green," Dutiel said. "We knew that they concentrated their offense primarily on their two leading scorers in (Caleigh) McCoy and (Kaylyn) Slone, and so we concentrated our energy on preventing them from initiating the offense. We knew that their bench wasn't as deep as other benches that we played against, so we wanted to get out in transition and just wear them out, basically."

Offensively, South Webster wasted no time getting everybody involved. The Lady Jeeps' first six baskets came from each of its five starters — Emma Campbell, Ava Claxon, Addi Claxon, Violet Edwards, and Natalee Eskridge, in that order — as South Webster jumped out to a 15-4 lead following Eskridge's first bucket and increased that advantage to 20-6 at the end of the first quarter.

South Webster then increased that lead further to 25-8 as Smith and Humble combined to hit three of their four free throw attempts between them, helping the Lady Jeeps as South Webster ended the half on a 14-2 run to take its 35-10 halftime advantage. Fittingly, the half ended with likely its sweetest move — as Ava Claxon beat the Phelps defense with a nasty eurostep layup with 22.2 seconds left in the half to cap a 35-point opening half and a 25-point halftime lead.

During that spurt, the play of the entire starting five defensively also created issues for Phelps as the stinginess of Campbell, Edwards and Addi Claxon both in pressure and half-court defensive looks noticeably frustrated the Lady Hornets while Natalee Eskridge's physicality and Ava Claxon's length did the same.

"Addi is our main defensive threat," Dutiel said. "Her lateral quickness is really good. That comes from that volleyball background. She's just a tremendous athlete, and we're so blessed to have her. Violet is so athletic, can run, and is really quick side-to-side. She's coming into her own defensively and really learning. I thought all five of our starters played excellent defense. Emma and Ava played great defense and I thought Natalee Eskridge played a really nice game against their bigs. Natalee likes the physical game. She doesn't mind contact. I thought all of the starters did exceptionally well and made Phelps work hard for every point."

South Webster continued to execute in the third quarter en route to running its lead to a 31-point margin, 51-20, after three quarters of play. The highlight of that quarter was a possession where all five players touched the basketball, shifting Phelps' zone defense to a point where it created an open look for Eskridge, who knocked down an open jumper with relative ease.

With the victory, South Webster again moved back to the right side of .500 with its young group. All four of the Lady Jeeps' losses have come to programs who are 7-2 or better this season, with three of the four losses coming by 11 points or less in 2025-26.

"They kind of got thrown right into the fire with having four freshmen starting in the rotation," Dutiel said. "I told them early on, 'You have time to mature at other places through a JV system. Here, you don't. You're going to get thrown into the fire in Game 1. You're going to have to learn as we go. Early on, the Chesapeake loss was a product of mistakes that you would typically see in a season opener, but now, you can see the seasoning and growth in what they're doing. They're finding out that varsity basketball is just as much mental as it is physical, and they've stepped up and answered the call."

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