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Thompson's Brooklyn Oden, above, posted 31 points, including a strong fourth quarter to propel the Warriors to an area road win against Oak Mountain. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

NORTH SHELBY – Despite missing the third quarter due to foul trouble, Thompson’s Brooklyn Oden was able to post 31 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Warriors to a thrilling 60-57 area road win at Oak Mountain.

Thompson (8-12, 1-2) trailed by 10 points at the half, but was able to pull off the comeback thanks not only to Oden hitting 11 of 16 free throws in the final period, but thanks to the help of her teammates in the third quarter.

With Oden sitting the period due to foul trouble, and the Warriors down 10 points, her teammates posted 16 points to help give Thompson the lead heading into an action-packed final quarter.

The first half was an entertaining show between Oak Mountain’s Kailey Rory and Thompson’s Oden as the two combined for 36 points putting up 18 apiece.

In the first quarter, both got some help as well with the Eagles (11-10, 0-3) seeing four other players with points and the Warriors getting points from three other players.

Rory posted seven points in the quarter, while getting eight points from teammates for 15 points.

But Oden and the Warriors answered everything as she posted nine points herself and got six from teammates to lead to a 15-15 tie at the end of the opening period.

In the second quarter, both players were able to keep up a strong scoring effort with Rory posting 11 points in the frame and Oden posting nine more points.

The difference this time around was the teammate help.

Thompson saw just two other scorers besides Oden for four points, while Oak Mountain got help from five other players for 11 more points.

With the strong teamwork by the Eagles, they were able to open the period on a 17-6 run to take an 11-point lead and eventually extended that lead to 13 points at 37-24 after Rory hit back-to-back baskets.

Thompson, however, was able to battle back to get the deficit back to just 10 points at 37-27 heading into the half, which actually gave the Warriors some confidence for the third period.

That change in attitude showed for the Warriors coming out of the locker room as they went on a 10-2 run to quickly cut the Oak Mountain lead to just two points at 39-37 despite Oden siting on the bench with three fouls.

The Eagles were able to respond with some three free throws from Rory, but the Warriors were back in the game now and had a growing sense of confidence.

Oak Mountain eventually took a five-point 44-39 lead, but thanks to a layup from London Wooley and four straight points from Aliyah King, Thompson ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 45-44 lead into the final quarter and completely flip the script.

The Eagles were able to regain the lead by four points early in the fourth after Hannah Edwards hit a big post shot and Rory followed with a 3-pointer, but that 49-45 lead for Oak Mountain was followed by an intense back-and-forth game over the final four minutes.

In that span of the game, neither team was able to lead by more than three points with Thompson eventually taking a 55-53 lead with just more than 1:30 left to play thanks to eight points from Oden in less than three minutes after re-entering the game.

Over the final 1:30 of the game, free throws became key.

The Eagles went to the line on their next three trips up the court, but were only able to knock down two of their five attempts, including a missed front end to a 1-and-1 opportunity.

That streak eventually continued to hitting just three of seven from the line, but they still trailed by just two points at 58-56 with 27 seconds left to play.

Oden, however, was money from the free throw line going 3-4 in the final 20.6 seconds to give the Warriors a 60-57 lead with 10.7 seconds left.

Oak Mountain, despite the free throw shooting woes, was able to get one last look at a 3-pointer out of a timeout, but saw the shot just miss off the mark to give the Warriors a thrilling and hard-fought victory.

For the game, Oden knocked down 16 of her 22 free throws. Aside from her 31 points, Zoria Miller posted 12 points.

Rory led Oak Mountain with 29 points, while Edwards added 13 points.

Photos available at Shelbycountyphotos.com

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