Late Lynchburg-Clay rally not enough against Lady Rockets
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
FAYETTEVILLE — In a battle for positioning in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference standings between a Division I and Division II team in the conference, it was the host Fayetteville Lady Rockets who blasted away in the final minutes to defeat the visiting Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs, 76-66, Monday.
The game was a makeup game from Jan. 8, and for those in attendance, it didn't disappoint with the intensity from the start, as the Lady Mustangs were able to have their strongest quarter of the night, outscoring their hosts, 21-14 in the first eight minutes.
In the first quarter, Hannah Binkley was first to score for the Lady Mustangs, followed by two points by Ali Little for LC, giving them a 4-0 lead within the first minute of the game.
Little led LC with 24 points, and Binkley followed with 16.
"Ali stepped up and has had some very good games lately," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "Against Eastern, Peebles, Georgetown … she's been on a roll for us and has been our go-to person.
"I'm happy and proud of the way she's been playing, and I'm hoping some of the other kids will step up as well."
Once the Lady Rockets tied the score at 4-4, then took the lead, LC responded with a 3-pointer by Morgan Fittro, then a layup by Fittro off a pass from Lexi Waits to put LC ahead 9-6. Fittro finished with seven points.
From there, LC (5-3, 8-7) eventually went on a 11-0 run from the 4:35 mark of the first to the 2:35 mark, ending with a layup by Waits to put LC in front, 15-6.
After a 3-pointer by Fayetteville, Madison Wills of LC sank two free throws, and with 1:38 left in the first, Little put LC ahead 19-11. Little scored the final points of the first quarter with 10 seconds left on the scoreboard to put LC in the lead by seven points.
As the second quarter began, the Lady Mustangs' play changed a bit. They had trouble making baskets near and away from the hoop and committed various turnovers, allowing the Lady Rockets to eventually tie the score at 23 with 4:43 left in the first half and take the lead for good with around four minutes remaining in the quarter.
"We played a great first quarter," Lewis said. "I thought we came out aggressive, ready to go, and then we fell asleep and let their shooters take over, and that carried over into the second half.
"Fayetteville is a really good shooting team, and we knew that coming in, but we just didn't get out there and contest their shots. That hurt us. We didn't play good defense, not good enough to win a ball game. We gave them too many second-chance attempts."
The Lady Rockets (5-3, 10-5) did that by starting the second with an 11-2 run to take the lead at 25-23, with points from Emily Burroughs, as Burroughs scored 11 points in the second quarter and finished the game with 18 points. Carly Burroughs also finished in double figures with 13 points.
Fayetteville outscored LC, 21-9 in the second frame to take a 35-30 halftime advantage.
LC trailed by 10 points after three quarters, though they were again outscored in a quarter, this time at 22-17. For LC in the third, Little, Vanessa Thiel, Fittro, Binkley and Leininger (who totaled nine points) contributed to their scoring, including a 3-pointer by Binkley with 3:19 left in the frame.
As for Fayetteville's third, it was Samantha Murphy's time to shine, making three 3-pointers in the quarter. She eventually scored 14 of the 22 total points by the Lady Rockets in the quarter, with Fayetteville leading 57-47 heading into the final quarter.
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Murphy led all scorers with a game-high 33 points, making five 3-pointers and finishing 8-of-13 from the free-throw line. Murphy also made five two-point buckets against LC.
"It is always tough coming here and playing, because when their shooters are on, they are tough to beat," Lewis said.
Each team scored 19 points in the final eight minutes, with LC trailing by as many as 13 points in the fourth and getting as close as six points of the Lady Rockets' advantage with 1:07 left in regulation.
Murphy came up big again for Fayetteville in the fourth with 12 points in the quarter, including eight of those points from the free-throw line.
In the fourth, LC had three players add to their side of the scoreboard in Little, Binkley and Leininger. Little was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line in the fourth and had nine total points in the quarter.
Binkley added seven points in the fourth, and Leininger had four points in the final eight minutes of the game.
"This was a tough loss, and we wanted to keep things rolling after winning on Saturday against Peebles, but we have another game against Fairfield to prepare for on Thursday," Lewis said.
In JV play, LC defeated Fayetteville, 57-31. Shelby Marshall led LC with 17 points, followed by Hayley McConnaughey with 10 points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
LCHS 21 09 17 19 — 66
FAHS 14 21 22 19 — 76
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
FAYETTEVILLE (76) — C.Burroughs 4 (0) 5-6 13, E.Burroughs 5 (2) 2-2 18, L.Smyth 3 (0) 1-2 7, R.Wolf 2 (0) 0-0 4, S.Murphy 5 (5) 8-13 33, M.Koch 0 (0) 1-2 1. TOTALS: 19 (7) 17-25 76.
LYNCHBURG-CLAY (66) — M.Fittro 2 (1) 0-0 7, A.Little 10 (0) 4-4 24, L.Waits 2 (0) 0-0 4, V.Thiel 2 (0) 0-0 4, M.Wills 0 (0) 2-2 2, H.Binkley 5 (2) 0-0 16, B.Leininger 4 (0) 1-2 9. TOTALS: 25 (3) 7-8 66.
The game was a makeup game from Jan. 8, and for those in attendance, it didn't disappoint with the intensity from the start, as the Lady Mustangs were able to have their strongest quarter of the night, outscoring their hosts, 21-14 in the first eight minutes.
In the first quarter, Hannah Binkley was first to score for the Lady Mustangs, followed by two points by Ali Little for LC, giving them a 4-0 lead within the first minute of the game.
Little led LC with 24 points, and Binkley followed with 16.
"Ali stepped up and has had some very good games lately," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "Against Eastern, Peebles, Georgetown … she's been on a roll for us and has been our go-to person.
"I'm happy and proud of the way she's been playing, and I'm hoping some of the other kids will step up as well."
Once the Lady Rockets tied the score at 4-4, then took the lead, LC responded with a 3-pointer by Morgan Fittro, then a layup by Fittro off a pass from Lexi Waits to put LC ahead 9-6. Fittro finished with seven points.
From there, LC (5-3, 8-7) eventually went on a 11-0 run from the 4:35 mark of the first to the 2:35 mark, ending with a layup by Waits to put LC in front, 15-6.
After a 3-pointer by Fayetteville, Madison Wills of LC sank two free throws, and with 1:38 left in the first, Little put LC ahead 19-11. Little scored the final points of the first quarter with 10 seconds left on the scoreboard to put LC in the lead by seven points.
As the second quarter began, the Lady Mustangs' play changed a bit. They had trouble making baskets near and away from the hoop and committed various turnovers, allowing the Lady Rockets to eventually tie the score at 23 with 4:43 left in the first half and take the lead for good with around four minutes remaining in the quarter.
"We played a great first quarter," Lewis said. "I thought we came out aggressive, ready to go, and then we fell asleep and let their shooters take over, and that carried over into the second half.
"Fayetteville is a really good shooting team, and we knew that coming in, but we just didn't get out there and contest their shots. That hurt us. We didn't play good defense, not good enough to win a ball game. We gave them too many second-chance attempts."
The Lady Rockets (5-3, 10-5) did that by starting the second with an 11-2 run to take the lead at 25-23, with points from Emily Burroughs, as Burroughs scored 11 points in the second quarter and finished the game with 18 points. Carly Burroughs also finished in double figures with 13 points.
Fayetteville outscored LC, 21-9 in the second frame to take a 35-30 halftime advantage.
LC trailed by 10 points after three quarters, though they were again outscored in a quarter, this time at 22-17. For LC in the third, Little, Vanessa Thiel, Fittro, Binkley and Leininger (who totaled nine points) contributed to their scoring, including a 3-pointer by Binkley with 3:19 left in the frame.
As for Fayetteville's third, it was Samantha Murphy's time to shine, making three 3-pointers in the quarter. She eventually scored 14 of the 22 total points by the Lady Rockets in the quarter, with Fayetteville leading 57-47 heading into the final quarter.
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Murphy led all scorers with a game-high 33 points, making five 3-pointers and finishing 8-of-13 from the free-throw line. Murphy also made five two-point buckets against LC.
"It is always tough coming here and playing, because when their shooters are on, they are tough to beat," Lewis said.
Each team scored 19 points in the final eight minutes, with LC trailing by as many as 13 points in the fourth and getting as close as six points of the Lady Rockets' advantage with 1:07 left in regulation.
Murphy came up big again for Fayetteville in the fourth with 12 points in the quarter, including eight of those points from the free-throw line.
In the fourth, LC had three players add to their side of the scoreboard in Little, Binkley and Leininger. Little was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line in the fourth and had nine total points in the quarter.
Binkley added seven points in the fourth, and Leininger had four points in the final eight minutes of the game.
"This was a tough loss, and we wanted to keep things rolling after winning on Saturday against Peebles, but we have another game against Fairfield to prepare for on Thursday," Lewis said.
In JV play, LC defeated Fayetteville, 57-31. Shelby Marshall led LC with 17 points, followed by Hayley McConnaughey with 10 points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
LCHS 21 09 17 19 — 66
FAHS 14 21 22 19 — 76
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
FAYETTEVILLE (76) — C.Burroughs 4 (0) 5-6 13, E.Burroughs 5 (2) 2-2 18, L.Smyth 3 (0) 1-2 7, R.Wolf 2 (0) 0-0 4, S.Murphy 5 (5) 8-13 33, M.Koch 0 (0) 1-2 1. TOTALS: 19 (7) 17-25 76.
LYNCHBURG-CLAY (66) — M.Fittro 2 (1) 0-0 7, A.Little 10 (0) 4-4 24, L.Waits 2 (0) 0-0 4, V.Thiel 2 (0) 0-0 4, M.Wills 0 (0) 2-2 2, H.Binkley 5 (2) 0-0 16, B.Leininger 4 (0) 1-2 9. TOTALS: 25 (3) 7-8 66.