Lady Mustangs veto Senators for sectional championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LUCASVILLE — The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs (15-6) used their defensive pressure and offensive prowess to gain their first sectional title in four seasons to defeat the Portsmouth West Senators, 72-49 at Valley High School in their Division III SE District Sectional Final contest.
This is the first sectional title for LC under head coach Whitney Lewis. When Lewis was a player, she was a member of championship teams at LC.
"It has been a long time since we've won a sectional title," Lewis said. "It is nice to be able to cut down the net … Joe Wills was laughing as we were walking out and asked me if I still remembered how to do it.
"For our girls, to have such a young team and to have them cut down a net, it is a pretty special experience, and I'm glad they got to do that (Saturday)."
For the No. 2 seeded Lady Mustangs, the home team on the scoreboard, they jumped out to a 19-9 lead at the completion of the first quarter.
In the first quarter, it was senior Sarah Rosselott who got the scoring started with two points at the 6:35 mark, and following a 2-2 tied score, LC had the lead for the remainder of the game as Hannah Binkley sank a 3-pointer from the corner for a 5-2 advantage with 6:05 left in the first.
Later in the first, after two points by No. 7 seeded PW, LC went on a 10-0 run from the 5:11 mark of the first to the 3:03 mark for a 15-4 advantage.
The 10-point run came from five straight points from Madysyn Creighton, including a 3-pointer with 4:36 on the scoreboard. Creighton finished the game with 16 total points.
From there, Rosselott (who totaled 10 points) netted three points, and Ali Little scored two points on a put-back basket for the 11-point advantage. Little finished with a double-double with a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds.
"Ali did a great job for us," Lewis said. "She rebounded the ball. She had offensive rebounds, put-backs … she had a few outside shots, brought up the ball for us a couple times. She had an overall great game for us, and it really helped out."
As for the remainder of the first quarter for the Lady Mustangs, Little and McKayla Binkley each added two points.
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"This team (PW) was physical, and we knew that coming in," Lewis said. "The first quarter, we were OK with that, and the physicality kind of got to us a little bit. We were able to compose ourselves and handle it throughout the game."
By the end of the second, LC had a 10-point lead at the half by a 35-25 score, as they each scored 16 points in the quarter. Ten of those 16 points by PW came from the free-throw line.
In the second quarter, LC had their 16 points contributed by Creighton, Little, Hannah Binkley and McKayla Binkley, with Little scoring eight points in the quarter.
"Madysyn (Creighton) came off the bench and had a great offensive and defensive game," Lewis said. "She was a real spark offensively for us."
In the third, LC added another 16 points to their total, while their defense held the Senators to 11 points. The final eight minutes saw LC outscore PW, 21-13.
For the fourth quarter, Morgan Fittro, Creighton, Lexi Waits, Rosselott, Madison Wills, Hannah Binkley, McKayla Binkley and Bailey Leininger all scored points.
The fourth saw the LC free-throw shooting keep PW at bay as they went 11-of-15 in the quarter. For the game, they were 18-of-26.
"We didn't shoot that bad from the line," Lewis said. "With the game being so physical, we got to the line a lot. We needed to make sure we finished those plays, and I'm glad we did that."
LC will play in the district semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Waverly High School against No. 3 seeded South Point (16-3). The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
"It will be a tough game, and hopefully we get some good practices in this week and are ready to go on Thursday," Lewis said.
This is the first sectional title for LC under head coach Whitney Lewis. When Lewis was a player, she was a member of championship teams at LC.
"It has been a long time since we've won a sectional title," Lewis said. "It is nice to be able to cut down the net … Joe Wills was laughing as we were walking out and asked me if I still remembered how to do it.
"For our girls, to have such a young team and to have them cut down a net, it is a pretty special experience, and I'm glad they got to do that (Saturday)."
For the No. 2 seeded Lady Mustangs, the home team on the scoreboard, they jumped out to a 19-9 lead at the completion of the first quarter.
In the first quarter, it was senior Sarah Rosselott who got the scoring started with two points at the 6:35 mark, and following a 2-2 tied score, LC had the lead for the remainder of the game as Hannah Binkley sank a 3-pointer from the corner for a 5-2 advantage with 6:05 left in the first.
Later in the first, after two points by No. 7 seeded PW, LC went on a 10-0 run from the 5:11 mark of the first to the 3:03 mark for a 15-4 advantage.
The 10-point run came from five straight points from Madysyn Creighton, including a 3-pointer with 4:36 on the scoreboard. Creighton finished the game with 16 total points.
From there, Rosselott (who totaled 10 points) netted three points, and Ali Little scored two points on a put-back basket for the 11-point advantage. Little finished with a double-double with a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds.
"Ali did a great job for us," Lewis said. "She rebounded the ball. She had offensive rebounds, put-backs … she had a few outside shots, brought up the ball for us a couple times. She had an overall great game for us, and it really helped out."
As for the remainder of the first quarter for the Lady Mustangs, Little and McKayla Binkley each added two points.
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"This team (PW) was physical, and we knew that coming in," Lewis said. "The first quarter, we were OK with that, and the physicality kind of got to us a little bit. We were able to compose ourselves and handle it throughout the game."
By the end of the second, LC had a 10-point lead at the half by a 35-25 score, as they each scored 16 points in the quarter. Ten of those 16 points by PW came from the free-throw line.
In the second quarter, LC had their 16 points contributed by Creighton, Little, Hannah Binkley and McKayla Binkley, with Little scoring eight points in the quarter.
"Madysyn (Creighton) came off the bench and had a great offensive and defensive game," Lewis said. "She was a real spark offensively for us."
In the third, LC added another 16 points to their total, while their defense held the Senators to 11 points. The final eight minutes saw LC outscore PW, 21-13.
For the fourth quarter, Morgan Fittro, Creighton, Lexi Waits, Rosselott, Madison Wills, Hannah Binkley, McKayla Binkley and Bailey Leininger all scored points.
The fourth saw the LC free-throw shooting keep PW at bay as they went 11-of-15 in the quarter. For the game, they were 18-of-26.
"We didn't shoot that bad from the line," Lewis said. "With the game being so physical, we got to the line a lot. We needed to make sure we finished those plays, and I'm glad we did that."
LC will play in the district semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Waverly High School against No. 3 seeded South Point (16-3). The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
"It will be a tough game, and hopefully we get some good practices in this week and are ready to go on Thursday," Lewis said.