Lady Mustangs bow out of postseason

LUCASVILLE — Playing the season with only one senior and a young basketball team, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs played varsity basketball in what can be described as a season of learning.

Entering the Division VI 2025 SE District Tournament quarterfinal round, the No. 9 Lady Mustangs held the lead after the first quarter on the road against the No. 8 seeded Valley Lady Indians, but were unable to gain the win in the tournament opener, falling by a 44-35 score.

“There's pros and cons to being young. There's a lot of room for growth. I feel like we did that a lot this season, from our first game to this game. You've seen that, even with our younger kids, just stepping up in moments, and then we get in the big moment here,” LCHS head coach Whitney Lewis said. “We did what we were supposed to, and they did what we wanted them to do, but we just couldn't get baskets in the moments that we needed to turn the game, and kind of turn the corner, to get where we needed to be.

“Sometimes when those shots don't go in, that momentum swing makes all the difference when it does go in, and the momentum can swing back our way.”

LCHS saw their season end with an overall record of 8-15 overall, and their Division II Southern Hills Athletic Conference record ended at 5-8. Valley with the win improves to 12-10 overall.

Though Valley was first to score in the home game for the Lady Indians, LCHS answered with a steal and layup from Lily Ferguson. After Valley regained the lead with a free throw, Lynchburg-Clay came back with baskets by Madison McMullen and Allie Waits for a 6-3 lead with 5:15 on the first quarter clock. McMullen totaled nine points for LCHS.

Valley cut the LC lead to two points with a free throw, but the Lady Mustangs answered with a basket by McMullen for an 8-4 advantage. Two consecutive baskets by Valley’s Katelyn Queen tied the score at 8-8 with 2:33 left in the quarter. Queen finished the game with 20 points, making a total of eight two-point baskets and going 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.

That short run of momentum was stopped by the Lady Mustangs with a jumper from McMullen and a bucket by Joslyn Rockey for a 12-18 lead. Valley cut the lead in half with the final basket of the quarter when Queen made a layup with 20 seconds left in the quarter for the 12-10 score.

By the time halftime arrived, it was Valley sitting in the lead by five points at 25-20. Valley scored the first three baskets of the second for a 15-12 lead, and after a basket by LC’s Addy Carraher, the Lady Indians took back a three-point lead with 4:49 left in the quarter. Carraher finished the game with 10 points.

LC answered with four points off a 3-pointer by Carraher and a free-throw conversion from McMullen for a one-point lead at 18-17.

Valley ended the second with a 8-2 run with two baskets and four made free throws, while LC’s points were off two made free throws by Carraher for the 25-20 Lady Indians lead at halftime.

“We had to do something to try to cause some turnovers. I thought we did a good job of that in the second half,” Lewis said. “We came out more aggressive, we caused some turnovers, but unfortunately, we weren't able to convert those into points. We had some looks.

“It just felt like there was a lid on the basket tonight, in the first half and more in the second half. In the first we just couldn't put the ball in the basket, in the key moments when we were able to create that chaos.”

Lynchburg-Clay trailed by seven points after three quarters, scoring five points in the frame, while Valley scored seven points as all seven of their points were scored by Queen. LC in the third had a basket by Ferguson, a layup from Waits and a free throw made by Ava McLaughlin.

Valley outscored the Lady Mustangs 12-10 in the fourth quarter, as the height of the Lady Indians in the paint proved to be too much with second-chance opportunities throughout the game.

LCHS got within four points of Valley in the fourth quarter with 4:50 left in the game off a basket by McMullen, but the Lady Indians extended their lead with free throws made after being fouled. Valley went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute of the game to seal the win.

Other final scoring totals for Valley included Ella Thompson with 14 points, Carly Metzler (5), Emilie Barr (4) and Austin Frantz (1). Team totals for VHS included 13 two-point baskets, and they were 18-of-23 from the free-throw line.

LCHS final scoring totals also included: Ferguson (4), Rockey (4), Bell (3) and McLaughlin (1).

The lone senior for LCHS is Allie Waits.

“Allie Waits played in her last game tonight. It's always hard when you lose a senior, especially one of her caliber, who was able to give us four years of dedication and hard work,” Lewis said. “You're not going to find a harder worker than Allie. She gives her heart and soul in every game that she plays, and I think you've seen that tonight.

“We're going to miss her. We're going to miss her a lot, but like I said, we're young. We’ve got some kids returning and looking forward to seeing what that looks like as these kids grow. I’m happy with the growth from the beginning of the year to now, so I'm excited to see what that means for them moving forward.”

Valley will play again Monday, Feb. 17 against No. 1 seeded Federal Hocking at Southeastern High School at 6:15 p.m.

BOX SCORE
LCHS    12 08 05 10 — 35
VHS    10 15 07 12 — 44

VALLEY (44) — A.Frantz 0 (0) 1-2 1, E.Thompson 2 (0) 10-12 14, C.Metzler 2 (0) 1-2 5, K.Queen 8 (0) 4-5 20, E.Barr 1 (0) 2-2 4. TOTALS: 13 (0) 18-23 44.

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (35) — S.Bell 1 (0) 1-1 3, L.Ferguson 2 (0) 0-2 4, J.Rockey 2 (0) 0-0 4, M.McMullen 4 (0) 1-2 9, A.Waits 2 (0) 0-0 4, A.Carraher 1 (2) 2-2 10, A.McLaughlin 0 (0) 1-2 1. TOTALS: 12 (2) 5-9 35.

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