Second-half surge sends Lady Mustangs to victory over Fayetteville 

DODSONVILLE — Following a first half where the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs held a six-point halftime lead, a surge of scoring in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, sent LCHS to a 58-35 win over Southern Hills Athletic Conference win over the visiting Fayetteville Lady Rockets.

Starting the second frame with a six-point advantage, the Lady Mustangs built a 15-point lead once the third frame came to a close, though it was Fayetteville starting the quarter with a 3-pointer for a 21-18 score at the 6:50 mark of the third.

After that point, LCHS scored the next 11 points with the lead going from three points to 14 points with 4:41 left in the third.

“We just didn't play well in that second quarter,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis said. “We came out really strong in the first, and then, you know, Fayetteville is not going to die, so they came back and they fought hard in then second quarter.

“I thought we came out in the second half just ready to fight. We were a lot scrappier, getting to the ball and just just getting after it, and started making some of our shots. We went back to man-to-man, and I thought we played really good man-to-man defense and kind of pressured Fayetteville so they couldn't do what they wanted to do. I think that was kind of the difference there in the game.”

Lynchburg-Clay’s run of scoring started with a jumper by Ella Barry, and 34 seconds later it was Addison West connecting with a 3-pointer for a 26-18 score.

Next came a three-point play off a shot and free throw conversion by Madison McMullen with 5:22 left in the third for a 29-18 score. Macy Etienne followed with a 3-pointer to complete the 11-point run for a 14-point lead at 32-18 with 4:41 remaining in the quarter.

The Lady Rockets broke the streak with a 3-pointer by Lilly Carter — her second 3-pointer of the quarter — but LCHS came back with a basket by Jade Massey for a 34-21 score.

The final 3:00 of the third saw LCHS outscore Fayetteville 6-4 with the Lady Mustangs having four points from Massey and a jumper under pressure by West for a 40-25 score after three frames.

After scoring 19 points in the third, and building a 15-point lead — LCHS saw Massey score eight points off four baskets in the fourth quarter, while West also added eight points in the same frame, making a 3-pointer, two two-point baskets and a free throw. Barry also added two points in the LCHS fourth frame to complete the 18-point final quarter compiled by the home team.

“Jade was a monster there in that fourth quarter, just getting some easy buckets working hard and underneath,” Lewis said. “We had a lot of rotation on the help side. Ella ended up fouling out of the game, but she was always there for help side.

“Ella was there to kind of stop them and not making anything easy for for them. That was a big part of why we were successful there in that second half.”

West was the leading scorer for LCHS with 22 points, as she totaled seven two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and she was 2-of-3 from the free-throw line. West added three rebounds, five assists, one steal and two blocks.

Massey had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds in the win. Massey finished with seven two-point baskets, one 3-pointer and she went 2-for-4 from the free-throw line. Massey also collected three assists and six steals.

The rest of the final scoring for LCHS included Etienne with six points, Barry with four points, McMullen with five points, and Allie Waits with two points.

As for the first half of action, LCHS led 11-4 when the first quarter came to a close, and Fayetteville won the second frame at 11-10.

Fayetteville was led in scoring by Scarlett Crawford with 10 points.

As a team the Lady Mustangs totaled 31 rebounds, while Fayetteville had 27 boards. Also for LCHS, they collected 15 assists, 15 steals and four blocks.

LCHS also made five 3-pointers with Etienne and West each with two, and Massey with one trey.

As a team, LCHS finished 5-of-8 from the free-throw line, and Fayetteville was 6-of-14. Fayetteville team totals included six assists, seven steals and three blocks.

LCHS finished with 15 turnovers, and Fayetteville committed 24 turnovers.

The Lady Mustangs are currently 4-0 in Division I of the SHAC, and overall they stand at 5-2 on the season. Fayetteville falls to 2-2 in the SHAC Division II standings and 3-2 overall.

“I’m really happy with their effort and the way that they're fighting, especially when things aren't going so well,” Lewis said of her team. “That second quarter, Fayetteville made a run and we responded. I'm just proud of them for that and not crumbling to things maybe we can't control or just the good play of another team. We just come back, we fight and we get better.”

Next for LCHS is a SHAC game on Monday, Dec. 18 at North Adams.

BOX SCORE
FHS      04 11 10 10 — 35
LCHS    11 10 19 19 — 58

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (58) — M.Etienne 0 (2) 0-0 6, J.Massey 7 (1) 2-4 19, E.Barry 2 (0) 0-0 4, M.McMullen 2 (0) 1-1 5, A.West 7 (2) 2-3 22, A.Waits 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19 (5) 5-8 58.

FAYETTEVILLE (35) — A.Barber 1 (0) 0-0 2, L.Carter 0 (2) 2-2 8, L.Coffman 1 (0) 0-0 2, S.Crawford 3 (1) 1-4 10, R.Kleemeyer 2 (0) 2-6 6, C.Murphy 0 (0) 1-2 1, C.Rommel 3 (0) 0-0 6. TOTALS: 10 (3) 6-14 35.