Late foul call sends Lady Mustangs to controversial loss
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — One fan base agreed with a foul call under the hoop in overtime of a physical game, and the other fan base did not.
In what can be described as a controversial ending to a Southern Hills Athletic Conference contest, a foul on Lynchburg-Clay during a block attempt underneath the hoop as the buzzer sounded gave the visiting Eastern Brown Lady Warriors one last opportunity to end the overtime contest.
Making the final of two free throw attempts, Eastern freshman Mikayla Farris sent the Lady Warriors to a season sweep of Lynchburg-Clay and a 40-39 victory in overtime.
The win by the Lady Warriors also puts them in the drivers seat in Division I of the SHAC standings as they now hold a two-game lead over the Lady Mustangs. EB is now 6-0 in the conference (10-2 overall), while the Lady Mustangs are 4-2 (7-6 overall).
Given the circumstances of the final moments of the game, LC head coach Whitney Lewis said she was proud of how her team played by overcoming a slow first half where LC trailed 18-12 at halftime.
"This was the second game in a row where we showed up to play in the second half," Lewis said. "We won at Georgetown when we showed up in the second half and lost tonight.
"We didn't show up in the first … we scored 12 points in the half, so we struggled to play our game in the first half."
After that first half where the Lady Warriors and Lady Mustangs combined for 30 points, the second half was a different story with LC outscoring their opponent, 27-22, though they came up just short of sending the game into a second overtime.
Looking close at the second half, the Lady Mustangs were first to score with Ali Little making it a four-point LC deficit, but the Warriors were there to answer with seven consecutive points for a 24-14 lead. Little led LC with 14 points.
The run of points by EB was stopped by Little with 3:16 in the third. From there, the two teams exchanged points, but LC eventually scored the final five points of the quarter with a free throw by Lexi Waits and two layups from Hannah Binkley to bring LC to within six points of tying the game at 29-26. Binkley totaled 10 points in the loss.
In the fourth, Little and Binkley scored five consecutive points to start the quarter. Add that with the 5-0 run that ended the third, and it saw LC gain a 10-0 run to get back to within a point of the Lady Warriors at 29-28 with 6:27 left in regulation.
EB answered with three straight points, but LC countered with four straight points from Waits to tie the score at 32 with 2:30 left on the clock in the fourth.
[[In-content Ad]]The Lady Warriors followed with three made free throws to regain the lead at 35-32. Little then countered for the Lady Mustangs by sinking a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in regulation, a shot that eventually sent the game into OT.
Little continued her clutch play with two points to start overtime, but EB's Allison Day answered with a layup to tie the score at 37 with 1:25 remaining in OT. Day finished with 16 points.
LC came back with more points from Little, who this time scored with points near the hoop, as the ball bounced on the rim and eventually through the hoop for a 39-37 advantage with 1:10 left in the game.
"Ali stepped up big for us in the second half," Lewis said. "She's our go-to person when we needed a bucket, and she played that way tonight. We were looking for a couple baskets to start off the third, and she came out strong and made a couple good post moves.
"Ali set the tone defensively and set a defensive tone underneath, and that's what we needed to have to make a comeback."
Day came back to force a tied score at 39 with 47 seconds remaining. Then came the foul scenario at the buzzer, eventually with EB taking advantage and making the second of two free throws.
In JV play, EB defeated Lynchburg-Clay, 41-33. Hayley McConnaughey, Keyarra Oaks and Abigail Blankenship all led LC with six points each.
In what can be described as a controversial ending to a Southern Hills Athletic Conference contest, a foul on Lynchburg-Clay during a block attempt underneath the hoop as the buzzer sounded gave the visiting Eastern Brown Lady Warriors one last opportunity to end the overtime contest.
Making the final of two free throw attempts, Eastern freshman Mikayla Farris sent the Lady Warriors to a season sweep of Lynchburg-Clay and a 40-39 victory in overtime.
The win by the Lady Warriors also puts them in the drivers seat in Division I of the SHAC standings as they now hold a two-game lead over the Lady Mustangs. EB is now 6-0 in the conference (10-2 overall), while the Lady Mustangs are 4-2 (7-6 overall).
Given the circumstances of the final moments of the game, LC head coach Whitney Lewis said she was proud of how her team played by overcoming a slow first half where LC trailed 18-12 at halftime.
"This was the second game in a row where we showed up to play in the second half," Lewis said. "We won at Georgetown when we showed up in the second half and lost tonight.
"We didn't show up in the first … we scored 12 points in the half, so we struggled to play our game in the first half."
After that first half where the Lady Warriors and Lady Mustangs combined for 30 points, the second half was a different story with LC outscoring their opponent, 27-22, though they came up just short of sending the game into a second overtime.
Looking close at the second half, the Lady Mustangs were first to score with Ali Little making it a four-point LC deficit, but the Warriors were there to answer with seven consecutive points for a 24-14 lead. Little led LC with 14 points.
The run of points by EB was stopped by Little with 3:16 in the third. From there, the two teams exchanged points, but LC eventually scored the final five points of the quarter with a free throw by Lexi Waits and two layups from Hannah Binkley to bring LC to within six points of tying the game at 29-26. Binkley totaled 10 points in the loss.
In the fourth, Little and Binkley scored five consecutive points to start the quarter. Add that with the 5-0 run that ended the third, and it saw LC gain a 10-0 run to get back to within a point of the Lady Warriors at 29-28 with 6:27 left in regulation.
EB answered with three straight points, but LC countered with four straight points from Waits to tie the score at 32 with 2:30 left on the clock in the fourth.
[[In-content Ad]]The Lady Warriors followed with three made free throws to regain the lead at 35-32. Little then countered for the Lady Mustangs by sinking a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in regulation, a shot that eventually sent the game into OT.
Little continued her clutch play with two points to start overtime, but EB's Allison Day answered with a layup to tie the score at 37 with 1:25 remaining in OT. Day finished with 16 points.
LC came back with more points from Little, who this time scored with points near the hoop, as the ball bounced on the rim and eventually through the hoop for a 39-37 advantage with 1:10 left in the game.
"Ali stepped up big for us in the second half," Lewis said. "She's our go-to person when we needed a bucket, and she played that way tonight. We were looking for a couple baskets to start off the third, and she came out strong and made a couple good post moves.
"Ali set the tone defensively and set a defensive tone underneath, and that's what we needed to have to make a comeback."
Day came back to force a tied score at 39 with 47 seconds remaining. Then came the foul scenario at the buzzer, eventually with EB taking advantage and making the second of two free throws.
In JV play, EB defeated Lynchburg-Clay, 41-33. Hayley McConnaughey, Keyarra Oaks and Abigail Blankenship all led LC with six points each.