Maddie Wright struggled to score in the first half of Boyd-Buchanan's District 5-A girls' basketball game Friday against Arts & Sciences, but when her team needed her in the second half, the center answered the call.
Wright's explosive second half led the Lady Buccaneers to a 55-44 home win over the Lady Patriots.
"I feel really good," she said. "We look like a completely different team from last year, and that's maybe the toughest team in the district."
Wright picked up her third foul early in the third quarter and had to watch from the bench as her team's double-digit lead evaporated. The Lady Bucs led 21-10 at halftime and their lead swelled to 15 in the third quarter.
CSAS began to apply full-court pressure and started to force turnovers, which led to easy buckets on the other end. Without their big presence in the middle as an outlet, Boyd-Buchanan had a difficult time getting to its end of the floor.
"We're learning to deal with those types of situations," said Lady Bucs coach Tracey Walker. "We were very young last year, and I only have one senior this year, so they're learning, but they found a way to win."
With under a minute to play in the third quarter, CSAS tied the game, but Boyd-Buchanan slowed its opponent's momentum with two free throws to go into the fourth quarter up by two.
During her stay on the bench, someone behind the Lady Bucs bench told Wright she needed to come back and make an impact on the game. That seemed to be all she needed to hear.
Wright scored 20 of her 26 points in the second half, with most coming in the final quarter.
"The difference was just confidence," said Wright, who scored her 1,000th career point with 4:32 to play and also had 11 rebounds. "I was nervous in the second half because it was a big game and I had a lot of people tell me they were coming to see me play, but it was eye-opening to hear someone say that."
Fueled by the return of their center, the Lady Bucs quickly pushed their lead back to 11, their final margin of victory.
"That was about as bad as we've played -- uncharacteristically bad," Lady Patriots coach Zach Dragoo said. "We just didn't show a lot of focus, and our patience on offense wasn't there."
CSAS was led by Lennex Walker's 16 points and six rebounds. Sarah McElvain had seven rebounds to go with her nine points. Marisa McCalla had seven rebounds and six points for the Lady Bucs before leaving with a mild concussion in the second quarter.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com