Fourth quarter sends Lynchburg-Clay to loss against North Adams 

DODSONVILLE — With first place on the line Monday night at Lynchburg-Clay High School, the host Lady Mustangs held the lead after each of the first three quarters, but that lead was never more than three points against the visiting North Adams Lady Green Devils. 

The fourth quarter ended up being the difference maker, as it was the visitors who won that final eight-minute battle, defeating the Lady Mustangs 51-45 and clinching no less than a share of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Division I championship with one game left in their conference schedule. 

North Adams outscored LCHS 15-7 in the fourth play as they amped up their physicality in the entire second half, compared to their play in the first two quarters. That was one aspect of the game that NAHS head coach Rob Davis spoke about following the game, as he said he felt made a difference in the final outcome for his Lady Devils team. 

“I challenged their toughness at halftime. I said, they’re physical and they’re letting us play tonight, and I thought we were being soft the first half. I said, we’ve got to give it right back to them. We’ve just got to get physical and toughen up a little bit in the second half and meet their toughness,” Davis said. “[Katelynn] Boerger had a great game, and [Harlee] Brand, we told her to start attacking the bucket. She was playing a little scared again in the first half. I wanted to attack the bucket.”

The fourth frame began with North Adams tying the score at 38 points each following a basket by Brand, and a few seconds later, Boerger put North Adams in the lead with a jumper at the 6:04 mark of the final quarter. 

There was no scoring again in until the clock read 3:42 as Brand drove to the hoop for two points, and with 2:27 left, it was more North Adams scoring with a free throw made by Boerger for a 43-38 lead. 

North Adams increased their lead to 44-38 with another free throw, this one by Tatum Grooms, as this basket completed an 8-0 run to start the fourth frame. 

LCHS scored their first basket of the fourth quarter with 1:12 as Addison West added two points with a put-back basket following a rebound. West led LCHS with 24 points for the game, finishing with seven two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and she was 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. 

From there, the Lady Green Devils made another free throw with Makenna Shelton sinking the shot from the charity stripe with 51.2 on the clock. West answered with a made free throw of her own at the 34.9 mark of the fourth for LCHS, but once again, Shelton made a shot from the free-throw line, putting the Lady Green Devils in front 47-43 with 33.3 left in regulation. 

North Adams followed with four more points from Grooms, putting NAHS ahead by eight points and sealing the win with 20 seconds left in the game. LCHS ended with Macy Etienne sinking two shots from the free-throw line to make it a six-point deficit for LCHS as time eventually ran out. 

“We went man in the second half. We were losing shooters in our zone, we wouldn't rotate, and coaches said let's just go half court man and see what happens,” Davis said. “We matched up pretty well on it, and we did a heck of a job on them. We know we had to help on West — a couple of times we were supposed to be in help there and we sat down some shooters over here — but just our man to man I thought was good.

”We rebounded, I thought we were just huge on the boards. Again, that comes with toughness, rebounding and stuff like that and defense. I wish we made free throws and made it a lot easier here. Some of our turnovers, they get anxious, and I said, don't throw it this way, throw it toward our bucket. They panic a little bit and want to get rid of it. I thought I didn’t have enough timeouts to keep bailing them out.”

The first three quarters went much better for the host Lady Mustangs, leading 13-11 after the opening frame was finished. Though North Adams was first to score, LCHS answered with nine consecutive points, starting with a 3-pointer by Jade Massey, followed by two layups by West, then came a rebound and turnaround jumper by Ella Barry with 3:58 left in the opening quarter for a 9-2 LCHS lead.

North Adams came back with six straight points, but West broke that streak of scoring with a basket in the paint after she grabbed a rebound for a three-point LCHS lead at 11-8 with 2:13 left in the quarter. 

That lead went to five points following points on a fast break by West, and North Adams ended the first-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer from Boerger.

LCHS won the second frame at 8-7, gaining a 21-18 halftime lead. 

At one point in the second, LCHS led by nine points as Massey and Madison McMullen combined for eight points, as LCHS went on an 8-2 run with 5:33 left in the second. 

From there, though, the Lady Green Devils torched Lynchburg-Clay with the final six points of the second quarter, getting to within three points of tying the score. 

By the time the third frame ended, it was LCHS leading by just two points as NAHS outscored the Lady Mustangs 18-17.

“Our girls were focused for this game. We've been preparing for it. I was super proud of their way they came out and just mentally attacked this game. They focused, and they came out ready to play,” LCHS head coach Whitney Lewis said. “I felt like they kept their poise. It's just a few spurts there in the last couple of minutes of the third quarter. North Adams is a good basketball team, and they pressured us, and we made some mistake. When you make mistakes against a good basketball team, they make you pay. Even in that short span, it hurt us. 

“I thought that we executed on the defensive side of the ball. I think it's the best defense that we played all year long. I think that we played with a lot of determination on that side of the ball. Unfortunately, the friendly bounces around the rim were not our friend tonight because I know there was at least one — Jade’s three — it was all the way in and then literally kicked back out in that first half. I think we stayed on 21 for a good two to three minutes during that second quarter. We just couldn't put the ball in the basket. Same thing kind of got us there in the fourth quarter. We just weren't able to find a bucket when we really needed a bucket.”
 
In the third, NAHS had eight points by Boerger, five points from Brand and five points from Kenlie Jones. 

LCHS in the third had 11 points scored by West, three points by Etienne and two points scored by Massey. 

“We said this all week in practice, you don't get to play in these types of games unless you're a good team. That was kind of the atmosphere we built up around this game, and it didn't disappoint. I told the kids in the locker room that this is fun to be a part of this atmosphere, two teams battling back and forth,” Lewis said. “You hear the crowds getting into it. It’s a tournament atmosphere, and that's what we're getting ready to play here in a few weeks. You know, we didn't come out on the winning side tonight, but we battled, and I told the kids they need to taste this. It's nasty. It's not a good feeling. But you taste it, you learn from it, and hopefully you don't have to taste it again.

“We just couldn't find a bucket when we needed something. Addison seemed to step up and hit those shots. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to come out. Ella had a really nice game I thought, on the court several times, just getting after it.”

More final scoring for LCHS included Massey (9), Etienne (6), McMullen (4) and Barry (2). 

North Adams’ final scoring included Boerger leading with 19 points, followed by Brand with 15 points. The rest of the scoring included: Jones (7), Grooms (6), Shelton (2) and Karlie Kennedy (2).

The win sends North Adams to an overall record of 15-4 with a SHAC Division I record of 11-1 for first place. 

LCHS falls to a second-place tie with Peebles, both sitting at 9-2 in the conference Division I standings. The loss also sends LCHS to an overall record of 13-5. 

Next for LCHS is an away SHAC game on Thursday, Feb. 1 at West Union (1-10, 5-12). 

BOX SCORE
NAHS    11 07 18 15 — 51
LCHS    13 08 17 07 — 45

NORTH ADAMS (51) — M.Shelton 0 (0) 2-8 2, T.Grooms 1 (0) 4-6 6, K.Kennedy 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Boerger 7 (1) 2-6 19, H.Brand 5 (1) 2-2 15, K.Jones 2 (1) 0-0 7. TOTALS: 16 (3) 10-22 51. 

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (45) — M.Etienne 1 (0) 4-4 6, A.West 7 (2) 4-7 24, J.Massey 1 (2) 1-2 9, M.McMullen 2 (0) 0-0 4, E.Barry 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 12 (4) 9-13 45.