Lady Mustangs fall in district semifinals

WAVERLY — Holding on to the lead headed into the fourth quarter, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs were not able to withstand the Alexander Lady Spartans, sending them to a loss in the Division III SE District Semifinals Saturday.

LC went into the final eight minutes with a three-point advantage in a game played at the Waverly downtown gym. Once the fourth quarter began, they lost the lead, then later forced a tied score, but eventually lost the district semifinal game by a 51-48 score to the Lady Spartans.

"We played tight the entire first half, and the lid was on the basket, so to speak," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We just couldn't make the easy layups.

"I told the kids at halftime the team that was going to win was the team who was going to execute those shots under the basket. The third quarter, we did a better job, but in the fourth we had the looks, but just weren't able to execute those."

Alexander began the fourth by taking over the lead with seven straight points, as Leah Richardson scored the first four points of the frame and Jala Mace sank a 3-pointer with 6:06 left in the contest for a 43-39 LC deficit. Richardson led all scorers with 25 points, while Mace totaled 11 points.

As the quarter continued, the No. 2 seeded Lady Spartans and No. 3 seeded Lady Mustangs continued to battle to keep their seasons alive, including points from LC's Hannah Binkley and Morgan Fittro tying the score at 45 with 56 seconds left in regulation.

Binkley finished with 14 points, and Fittro totaled 13 points in her final game with the Lady Mustangs.

Alexander took the lead with two points from Richardson, only to see Lexi Waits sink a free throw with 31.6 to bring LC within one point of tying the score. Alexander eventually built a three-point lead with converted free throws from Richardson, though LC did have two last-chance opportunities to tie the score.

Those two chances, both 3-pointer attempts, were off-target, leading to the end of the season for LC.

The first three quarters were a different story for the Lady Mustangs, with the team leading 13-10 after the first quarter and 24-23 at halftime. Even after the third frame, LC had the aforementioned three-point lead.

LC had two seniors in the lineup for the final time in Morgan Fittro and Caitlin Davidson.

The Lady Mustangs finish the postseason at 1-1, with their sectional final win being against Huntington by a 51-36 score in a game played at Valley High School.

"Everyone played well," Lewis said. "Morgan, a senior, you could tell the last two tournament games she didn't want to stop playing basketball. She was guarding (Alexander's) best player, who I believe is a phenomenal player (Richardson).

"You could tell she (Morgan) just didn't want to stop playing. We are going to miss her and Caitlin next year. Lexi also came out and played well. Overall, it was a good team effort."

The Lady Mustangs also had scoring from McKayla Binkley and Ali Little with eight points each in the loss, along with five points from Waits. LC ends the season at 15-9 overall.

"I thought this was a successful season," Lewis said. "We battled injuries in the middle of the season, as we were without our point guard in that span. From the North Adams game on, we played our best basketball … our kind of basketball.

"I'm happy with the season and proud of how the kids played and handled everything."