With future coach Pat Summitt looking on, University of Tennessee-signee Alicia Manning put up 20 points to help guide her current team, Etowah, to a 65-49 win Tuesday over Towne Lake rival Woodstock.

The win was bittersweet for the Lady Eagles, however, as junior point guard Courtney Hatchett went down in the first half with an apparent knee injury, of which the extent of damage has yet to be determined.

"That just makes me sick, I don't know what else to say," Etowah coach Bob Westbrook said of the injury. "Thank goodness we have two or three girls that could have stepped in there. We weren't hoping we were going to have to throw people into the fire this soon, but I guess we are."

Woodstock kept it tight in the first half and earned a lead at 25-24 with 2 minutes left in the second quarter, propelled by scores from Jennifer Johnson, who had 15 points on the night, and Amanda Allison, who added 11. Etowah, however, scored six unanswered to end the half and added an additional 10 straight points to open the third, going up 42-27.

"We played hard," Woodstock coach Julie Crowe said. "We laid it on the line. There were just a few mental mistakes here and there. We have to play smarter - bottom line - but we fought. I thought we battled it out with them pretty well, especially being on (Etowah's) home court."

Brittany Yeager and Amanda Allison helped stem the Etowah tide by hitting three jumpers, combined with a free throw from Melissa Thornton, to cut the lead to eight.

With a 4-for-4 trip to the charity line from Johnson and Marissa Lakes, the Lady Wolverines whittled the deficit down to 51-44, but baskets from Lindsey Mason, who scored 17, Krysta Lewis (16 points) and four unanswered from Manning expanded Etowah's lead to 55-44.

The closest Woodstock would get was nine back after Alisha White went 2-for-2 at the free throw line, followed a basket from Yeager, to make it 58-49.

The Lady Eagles kept the Lady Wolverines at bay with a seven-point run off of Manning's 3-for-4 free-throw shooting and a tip-in and layup from Lewis to close the game.

Etowah moved to 3-0, but will have to re-tune quickly in Hatchett's absence as it travels Friday to region power Marietta.

"We've got an awful tough weekend coming up," Westbrook said. "We've got to find a point guard in a hurry."

Comment on this Story

Type your comment here...comments are reviewed before they are posted, and therefore they do not post immediately.

Please enter the validation words. If you cannot read them, you may obtain a fresh set of words by hitting the button.