Final frame stops Lady Mustangs against Peebles

Unable to gain the lead at the conclusion of any of the four quarters, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs were unable to match the intensity of the visiting Peebles Lady Indians, and it showed in the final score with PHS defeating LC, 53-38.

The Southern Hills Athletic Conference loss by the host Lady Mustangs (8-5) saw the score tied three times in the first quarter, but they still trailed 17-12 after the first eight minutes and 35-23 following the second frame.

The score was tied once in the second frame at 17-17 for the final time.

"Our intensity wasn't to the level I wanted to see," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We didn't play with the level of intensity that we needed to have to win this game.

"We play well in spurts, but not the entire game, and we can't do that against a team like Peebles."

In the first, the score was close at times with it being tied at four, eight and 10 points with the 10-10 scoring coming with 1:11 left in the quarter off a jumper by Pell. That began a 9-2 run by the visitors to end the first with a five-point lead over the Lady Mustangs.

Pell led all scorers with 17 points.

In the second, a bit of Peebles history was made around the 4:00 mark of the quarter when Baylee Wallace scored her 1,000th career point, with the game being briefly stopped to present her with the game ball.

Those points also put PHS (10-2) ahead 25-19, which came in the middle of an 8-0 Lady Indians run that eventually put PHS ahead 32-19. Wallace finished the game with 14 points.

"Our defense was a problem," Lewis said. "We couldn't get a stop when we really needed one."

LC's Ali Little responded with four straight points, but it was PHS scoring the final three points of the quarter to lead by 12 points. Little led LC with 16 points and seven rebounds.

"Ali had a good game in the post," Lewis said. "One plus on defense was Morgan (Fittro), and she matched up well inside the post, but we just couldn't put a whole game together as a team."

The Lady Mustangs continued to battle a deficit, but in the final 3:31 of the third, Hannah Binkley made consecutive 3-pointers, and McKayla Binkley, who sank a 3-pointer in the second quarter, followed with a free throw to give LC a 7-0 run to end the third, bringing them back to within seven points of tying the score.

Hannah Binkley totaled nine points, while McKayla Binkley finished with seven.

In the fourth quarter, LC was outscored 12-4.

LC will play again on Jan. 13 at Blanchester in non-conference play.