Strong start leads to Lady Mustangs win over Fairfield
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — Eight straight points by the host Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs to start the Southern Hills Athletic Conference matchup against the Fairfield Lady Lions set the tone for the remainder of the game, leading to a 39-point, 72-33 victory for LC, Thursday.
The home win for the Lady Mustangs was sparked by 26 points from McKayla Binkley, as she was one of four Lady Mustang players to score in double figures in the conference game. Binkley also added seven rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Hannah Binkley, who is now third place on the LC all-time girls basketball scoring list, followed with 17 points (five rebounds, five assists, two steals). Peyton Scott had 16 points (eight rebounds, four steals, two assists), and Zoe Fittro finished with 13 points, with the four LC players garnering all 72 points for the team. Three LC players collected a totaled of seven 3-pointers, with Fittro sinking three, while the Binkley sisters each made two.
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“I thought we set the tempo early. Our press was able to create some turnovers and get some easy buckets, and that was able to get us into a rhythm and a flow there in that first quarter, which it’s always nice to start off that way,” LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. “I was really happy with our defensive effort, too. Fairfield came in and they were hot, with nine wins in a row, and Grace Shope’s an awesome scorer.
“When you play a prolific scorer like her, we kind of want to focus and make sure that she doesn’t have a great night against us. I thought we did a great job and had an overall good defensive effort against her, knowing where she was and contesting her shots and making sure that she wasn’t able to get any easy ones.”
This was also the 18th win for the Lady Mustangs this season, moving to 18-3 overall and 10-2 within the SHAC. The loss for the Lady Lions snapped a nine-game losing streak, as this was their first loss since Jan. 10. They now stand at 8-4 in the SHAC and 12-8 overall.
Fairfield was led in scoring by Brianna Barnes with seven points, while Grace Shope and Ashley Sowards each scored six points. FHS shot 5-of-14 from the free-throw line, and LC was 5-of-7.
As for the aforementioned 8-0 run to begin the SHAC game, LC began with a layup from McKayla Binkley, followed by two point baskets from Hannah Binkley and Zoe Fittro, only to see McKayla Binkley score two more points for the eight-point advantage with 4:33 left in the opening frame.
Blake Adams stopped the scoring run with a layup for the Lady Lions, but McKayla Binkley was there to answer with two points of her own. Later, the quarter continued with Adams sinking a free throw and Shope scoring two points for FHS to make it a five-point differential with 2:51 on the first quarter clock.
The deficit eventually turned into 13 points by the time the first quarter ended with Hannah and McKayla Binkley each sinking a 3-pointer and Scott making a layup in the final 2:05 of the first for the 18-5 advantage.
LC outscored FHS, 15-7 in the second frame with the second frame beginning with a layup by Hannah Binkley, only to be answered with two points from Barnes. Other highlights from the second frame included consecutive baskets by Scott, and Fairfield’s Chloe Barber made a bucket with 6:11 left in the quarter.
The Lady Mustangs had threes from Fittro and Hannah Binkley in the second frame, eventually leading to a halftime lead of 33-12 in favor of the hosts.
In the second half, LC outscored the Lady Lions, 21-13 in the third and 18-8 in the fourth quarter. For the Lady Lions in the second half, Ashley Sowards sank two 3-pointers in the third, while Carli Reiber, Trinity Huff, Alexis Tate, Shope, Adams and Barnes all contributed to the scoring in the final two frames.
LC in the third had 13 points from McKayla Binkley, while Fittro sank a 3-pointer. Scott and Hannah Binkley also scored points in the third. The fourth quarter for LC had a third trey by Fittro and five points for the quarter, while Scott added seven points, Hannah Binkley tacked on two points, and McKayla Binkley scored four points in the final eight minutes.
“Lynchburg is a really, really good team. They make things difficult for you offensively because they’re so quick and athletic on defense,” FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. “When they get out in transition, they’re really hard to stop. They made it difficult for us to get into anything that we wanted to do, and they created a lot of mismatches. It was a rough night for us.”
In JV play, the Lady Mustangs rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Lady Lions, 35-29. Logan Binkley led LC with 16 points, and Ashley Sanderson led FHS with 10 points.
LC will play their final regular season and SHAC game on Thursday, Feb. 9 vs. Manchester. FHS plays next on Monday, Feb. 6 at McClain in a non-conference Highland County game.
“It’s going to be our senior night, our last regular-season game before we head into tournament play,” Lewis said of the final regular season game. “We’ve got a week before we have our last regular-season game, and then we’ll wrap up and start a brand-new season.”
The home win for the Lady Mustangs was sparked by 26 points from McKayla Binkley, as she was one of four Lady Mustang players to score in double figures in the conference game. Binkley also added seven rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Hannah Binkley, who is now third place on the LC all-time girls basketball scoring list, followed with 17 points (five rebounds, five assists, two steals). Peyton Scott had 16 points (eight rebounds, four steals, two assists), and Zoe Fittro finished with 13 points, with the four LC players garnering all 72 points for the team. Three LC players collected a totaled of seven 3-pointers, with Fittro sinking three, while the Binkley sisters each made two.
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“I thought we set the tempo early. Our press was able to create some turnovers and get some easy buckets, and that was able to get us into a rhythm and a flow there in that first quarter, which it’s always nice to start off that way,” LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. “I was really happy with our defensive effort, too. Fairfield came in and they were hot, with nine wins in a row, and Grace Shope’s an awesome scorer.
“When you play a prolific scorer like her, we kind of want to focus and make sure that she doesn’t have a great night against us. I thought we did a great job and had an overall good defensive effort against her, knowing where she was and contesting her shots and making sure that she wasn’t able to get any easy ones.”
This was also the 18th win for the Lady Mustangs this season, moving to 18-3 overall and 10-2 within the SHAC. The loss for the Lady Lions snapped a nine-game losing streak, as this was their first loss since Jan. 10. They now stand at 8-4 in the SHAC and 12-8 overall.
Fairfield was led in scoring by Brianna Barnes with seven points, while Grace Shope and Ashley Sowards each scored six points. FHS shot 5-of-14 from the free-throw line, and LC was 5-of-7.
As for the aforementioned 8-0 run to begin the SHAC game, LC began with a layup from McKayla Binkley, followed by two point baskets from Hannah Binkley and Zoe Fittro, only to see McKayla Binkley score two more points for the eight-point advantage with 4:33 left in the opening frame.
Blake Adams stopped the scoring run with a layup for the Lady Lions, but McKayla Binkley was there to answer with two points of her own. Later, the quarter continued with Adams sinking a free throw and Shope scoring two points for FHS to make it a five-point differential with 2:51 on the first quarter clock.
The deficit eventually turned into 13 points by the time the first quarter ended with Hannah and McKayla Binkley each sinking a 3-pointer and Scott making a layup in the final 2:05 of the first for the 18-5 advantage.
LC outscored FHS, 15-7 in the second frame with the second frame beginning with a layup by Hannah Binkley, only to be answered with two points from Barnes. Other highlights from the second frame included consecutive baskets by Scott, and Fairfield’s Chloe Barber made a bucket with 6:11 left in the quarter.
The Lady Mustangs had threes from Fittro and Hannah Binkley in the second frame, eventually leading to a halftime lead of 33-12 in favor of the hosts.
In the second half, LC outscored the Lady Lions, 21-13 in the third and 18-8 in the fourth quarter. For the Lady Lions in the second half, Ashley Sowards sank two 3-pointers in the third, while Carli Reiber, Trinity Huff, Alexis Tate, Shope, Adams and Barnes all contributed to the scoring in the final two frames.
LC in the third had 13 points from McKayla Binkley, while Fittro sank a 3-pointer. Scott and Hannah Binkley also scored points in the third. The fourth quarter for LC had a third trey by Fittro and five points for the quarter, while Scott added seven points, Hannah Binkley tacked on two points, and McKayla Binkley scored four points in the final eight minutes.
“Lynchburg is a really, really good team. They make things difficult for you offensively because they’re so quick and athletic on defense,” FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. “When they get out in transition, they’re really hard to stop. They made it difficult for us to get into anything that we wanted to do, and they created a lot of mismatches. It was a rough night for us.”
In JV play, the Lady Mustangs rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Lady Lions, 35-29. Logan Binkley led LC with 16 points, and Ashley Sanderson led FHS with 10 points.
LC will play their final regular season and SHAC game on Thursday, Feb. 9 vs. Manchester. FHS plays next on Monday, Feb. 6 at McClain in a non-conference Highland County game.
“It’s going to be our senior night, our last regular-season game before we head into tournament play,” Lewis said of the final regular season game. “We’ve got a week before we have our last regular-season game, and then we’ll wrap up and start a brand-new season.”