Lady Mustangs move to sectional final
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LUCASVILLE — Valentine's Day for the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs was about their love of scoring points in the first eight minutes, and from there it was smooth sailing, as they defeated the West Union Lady Dragons, 75-15 in their Division III SE District first-round game.
The win at Valley High School puts the No. 3 seeded Lady Mustangs back into the final of their sectional, as they will face No. 6 seed Peebles on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 6:15 p.m. No. 6 Peebles defeated No. 11 Piketon, 36-17 in the second game at Valley.
LC moves to 17-5 overall, while West Union ends the year with one win.
This was also the third time the Lady Mustangs defeated the No. 14 seed West Union this season, as they had previous wins of 64-26 and 77-35 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference games.
As for the third matchup, it was all Lynchburg-Clay in the first half, especially in the opening eight minutes as they rarely missed a shot, and when they did, they grabbed the rebound and put the ball in the bucket.
After one quarter, the tone of the game was set, as LC led 30-2, scoring the game's first 18 points. In fact, LC scored 13 points before they didn't score on a possession.
"Being the first game of the postseason, we came out strong and were ready to go," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We clicked on offense, and our defense created that offense.
"I'm proud of how the girls came out. We have to play like that the rest of the way because it is win or go home."
The Lady Mustangs shot 62 percent from the field in the first half and 49 percent for the game.
In the aforementioned first quarter, Emma Setty scored eight points and Laney Lewis each scored six points, while Morgan Fittro added five points. Also in the first, Ali Little added four points and Madysyn Creighton scored two.
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Setty finished the game leading LC and outscoring West Union herself with a game-high 20 points. Setty, a senior, scored all her points in the first three quarters with nine layups and going 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
For the game, Lewis finished with 12 points.
Creighton had her best quarter in the second, scoring nine of her 13 points in the second eight minutes. Creighton was also 3-of-5 from the free-throw line.
As for the second quarter, LC outscored the Lady Dragons, 17-3, as the home team on the scoreboard took a 47-5 lead to the locker room at the half.
In the final two quarters, many of the bench players took over in the scoring column as LC led the second half, 28-10 in the 16 minutes played.
Every LC player scored points in the postseason win with Fittro and Sarah Rosselott each finishing with seven points, while senior Ginny Gadzinski collected five points. Also in the scoring column was Little with four.
Shelby Stewart, Sarah Spidel and Ryleigh Jackson each added two points, and Madison Wills scored one point off a free throw in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Mustangs finished 8-of-13 from the free-throw line with one 3-pointer from Gadzinski in the fourth quarter with 6:21 left in the clock.
Leading West Union was Michelle Smith with six points and CeCe Howard with four. Also for WU, Natasha Barr totaled three points and Marci Schneider scored two points.
As for their next game, Coach Lewis said her team has very little time to prepare.
In their two games against Peebles this season, LC won in overtime 50-47 at LCHS and lost in their final regular-season game on Feb. 7 by a 42-34 score at PHS, costing LC a share of the Division I SHAC championship.
"We have one day to prepare, so that one day we are going to work hard," Lewis said. "Saturday we have to be aggressive like we were (Thursday)."
The win at Valley High School puts the No. 3 seeded Lady Mustangs back into the final of their sectional, as they will face No. 6 seed Peebles on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 6:15 p.m. No. 6 Peebles defeated No. 11 Piketon, 36-17 in the second game at Valley.
LC moves to 17-5 overall, while West Union ends the year with one win.
This was also the third time the Lady Mustangs defeated the No. 14 seed West Union this season, as they had previous wins of 64-26 and 77-35 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference games.
As for the third matchup, it was all Lynchburg-Clay in the first half, especially in the opening eight minutes as they rarely missed a shot, and when they did, they grabbed the rebound and put the ball in the bucket.
After one quarter, the tone of the game was set, as LC led 30-2, scoring the game's first 18 points. In fact, LC scored 13 points before they didn't score on a possession.
"Being the first game of the postseason, we came out strong and were ready to go," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We clicked on offense, and our defense created that offense.
"I'm proud of how the girls came out. We have to play like that the rest of the way because it is win or go home."
The Lady Mustangs shot 62 percent from the field in the first half and 49 percent for the game.
In the aforementioned first quarter, Emma Setty scored eight points and Laney Lewis each scored six points, while Morgan Fittro added five points. Also in the first, Ali Little added four points and Madysyn Creighton scored two.
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Setty finished the game leading LC and outscoring West Union herself with a game-high 20 points. Setty, a senior, scored all her points in the first three quarters with nine layups and going 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
For the game, Lewis finished with 12 points.
Creighton had her best quarter in the second, scoring nine of her 13 points in the second eight minutes. Creighton was also 3-of-5 from the free-throw line.
As for the second quarter, LC outscored the Lady Dragons, 17-3, as the home team on the scoreboard took a 47-5 lead to the locker room at the half.
In the final two quarters, many of the bench players took over in the scoring column as LC led the second half, 28-10 in the 16 minutes played.
Every LC player scored points in the postseason win with Fittro and Sarah Rosselott each finishing with seven points, while senior Ginny Gadzinski collected five points. Also in the scoring column was Little with four.
Shelby Stewart, Sarah Spidel and Ryleigh Jackson each added two points, and Madison Wills scored one point off a free throw in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Mustangs finished 8-of-13 from the free-throw line with one 3-pointer from Gadzinski in the fourth quarter with 6:21 left in the clock.
Leading West Union was Michelle Smith with six points and CeCe Howard with four. Also for WU, Natasha Barr totaled three points and Marci Schneider scored two points.
As for their next game, Coach Lewis said her team has very little time to prepare.
In their two games against Peebles this season, LC won in overtime 50-47 at LCHS and lost in their final regular-season game on Feb. 7 by a 42-34 score at PHS, costing LC a share of the Division I SHAC championship.
"We have one day to prepare, so that one day we are going to work hard," Lewis said. "Saturday we have to be aggressive like we were (Thursday)."