LC Lady Mustangs defeat Whiteoak in SHAC opener
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — The much-improved Whiteoak Lady Wildcats made life hard for the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs in the first quarter, but "Little by Little," the Lady Mustangs used their post game from junior Ali Little to eventually break away for the win.
With the play from Little, who led LC with 23 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, LC left Mowrystown with not only their first win of the season, but a Southern Hills Athletic Conference win as well, winning by a 78-59 score, Thursday at Whiteoak High School.
"I have to give all the credit in the world to Coach (Whitney) Lewis and her team," WHS head coach John Kirschner said. "They are an outstanding team, and it ought to be illegal to have to match a team like that every night, and I'm glad we don't.
"I'm glad this is the only time we'll see them this year. They played an outstanding game, but I don't think they expected us to come out and give them the effort we did."
That effort had WHS (0-1, 2-1) in the lead at times in the first quarter, and if not for a shot sank at the buzzer by LC's Lexi Waits off a steal, WHS would have had the lead after eight minutes, instead of the 16-16 score once the first quarter ended.
"We have to find a way to be better at the tip of the game," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We missed too many shots and had too many turnovers. We have to play much better at the start than we did (Thursday)."
In that first frame, it was Little putting points on the board first, but WHS answered with a 3-pointer from Emma Wardlow for a Lady 'Cats lead. Wardlow finished the game with 21 points, going 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Following the trey by Wardlow, McKayla Binkley followed with two points, but it again was answered with WHS points. Binkley, who finished with 12 points, sank another basket, this one a 3-pointer with 5:57 on the clock for a 9-5 LC advantage.
As the first quarter continued, Sunnie Lehr (who finished with 14 points) of host Whiteoak connected from beyond the arc to cut the LC lead to 11-10. That began a 7-0 run by WHS, which included a 3-pointer from Wardlow and two points by Michaela Luman for a 14-11 WHS lead at the halfway point of the first. Luman totaled 10 points for the game.
"Michaela stood out and is getting better as we go," Kirschner said. "Early on, she kept us in it, especially the first quarter. She's a young kid who is learning her role, and she's stepping up and realizing she can play the game at this level."
Morgan Fittro of LC tied the score at 14-14 with a free throw later in the first, with each team scoring one more bucket each to end the first tied at 16.
Following the very close first quarter, and a huddle with their head coach, LC looked like a new team in the second quarter, outscoring WHS, 20-7 in the second for a 36-23 halftime lead.
"We woke up a bit in the second quarter," Lewis said. "That was good, but I told the kids in the locker room that if we take away the first quarter, we played a pretty good game.
"Defensively, offensively we played better in the final three quarters, but we still have a lot to work on."
LC (1-0, 1-1) opened the second frame with a 10-1 run with points from McKayla Binkley, Waits and Hannah Binkley, including 3-pointers by Waits and Hannah Binkley for a 26-17 lead with 5:06 left in the first half. Binkley's 3-pointer came off an outlet pass from the paint by Bailey Leininger, with Binkley sinking the wide-open shot.
Hannah Binkley, again, had another 3-pointer in the second, this one with 3:37 on the clock for a 37-28 advantage. She finished the night with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists.
"Hannah is a good shooter, and when she's on, she's hard to stop," Lewis said. "When she got going, that was a good thing for us."
It was close to a mirror image with the way LC opened the third quarter, this time going on an 8-0 run, with all eight points by Little to put LC ahead, 44-23 with 6:39 left in the quarter.
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"Ali came alive in the third quarter," Lewis said. "She got in foul trouble in the first half but came out in the third ready to play. We were able to take advantage of our size, and our post had a good game offensively and defensively."
Those were answered with nine consecutive points by WHS, with Wardlow, Jayde Parr and a 3-pointer by Lehr for a 44-32 LC lead with 4:12 on the scoreboard.
"I've been saying all along, we are a different team, and we are not the old team," Kirschner said. "I hope if nothing else, people walk away from here realizing that we aren't the same team we used to be.
"We are going to fight and claw to the end. That's what I admired the most about my team (Thursday). We were down 24 at one time and cut it to 12. We stayed with the game plan and played hard."
LC ended the third with another shot at the buzzer, this one by McKayla Binkley 3-pointer to put LC up by 20 points at 61-41.
The scoring in the fourth was close to even, with WHS outscoring LC, 18-17.
"We grew a lot again (Thursday), and that is what this team is about as each game progresses. We want to be great now, but we want to hit our peak in February. We just want to keep improving each game, and I think we are doing that."
On JV play, LC defeated WHS, 32-18. LC was led in scoring by Emily Roush, Shelby Chisman and Shelby Marshall with six points each. The leading scorer for the Whiteoak JV team was Emily Edingfield with five points.
LC will play again on Monday as they travel for a non-conference game at Washington C.H.
The Lady 'Cats play again on Monday in a SHAC game at Fayetteville.
With the play from Little, who led LC with 23 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, LC left Mowrystown with not only their first win of the season, but a Southern Hills Athletic Conference win as well, winning by a 78-59 score, Thursday at Whiteoak High School.
"I have to give all the credit in the world to Coach (Whitney) Lewis and her team," WHS head coach John Kirschner said. "They are an outstanding team, and it ought to be illegal to have to match a team like that every night, and I'm glad we don't.
"I'm glad this is the only time we'll see them this year. They played an outstanding game, but I don't think they expected us to come out and give them the effort we did."
That effort had WHS (0-1, 2-1) in the lead at times in the first quarter, and if not for a shot sank at the buzzer by LC's Lexi Waits off a steal, WHS would have had the lead after eight minutes, instead of the 16-16 score once the first quarter ended.
"We have to find a way to be better at the tip of the game," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We missed too many shots and had too many turnovers. We have to play much better at the start than we did (Thursday)."
In that first frame, it was Little putting points on the board first, but WHS answered with a 3-pointer from Emma Wardlow for a Lady 'Cats lead. Wardlow finished the game with 21 points, going 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Following the trey by Wardlow, McKayla Binkley followed with two points, but it again was answered with WHS points. Binkley, who finished with 12 points, sank another basket, this one a 3-pointer with 5:57 on the clock for a 9-5 LC advantage.
As the first quarter continued, Sunnie Lehr (who finished with 14 points) of host Whiteoak connected from beyond the arc to cut the LC lead to 11-10. That began a 7-0 run by WHS, which included a 3-pointer from Wardlow and two points by Michaela Luman for a 14-11 WHS lead at the halfway point of the first. Luman totaled 10 points for the game.
"Michaela stood out and is getting better as we go," Kirschner said. "Early on, she kept us in it, especially the first quarter. She's a young kid who is learning her role, and she's stepping up and realizing she can play the game at this level."
Morgan Fittro of LC tied the score at 14-14 with a free throw later in the first, with each team scoring one more bucket each to end the first tied at 16.
Following the very close first quarter, and a huddle with their head coach, LC looked like a new team in the second quarter, outscoring WHS, 20-7 in the second for a 36-23 halftime lead.
"We woke up a bit in the second quarter," Lewis said. "That was good, but I told the kids in the locker room that if we take away the first quarter, we played a pretty good game.
"Defensively, offensively we played better in the final three quarters, but we still have a lot to work on."
LC (1-0, 1-1) opened the second frame with a 10-1 run with points from McKayla Binkley, Waits and Hannah Binkley, including 3-pointers by Waits and Hannah Binkley for a 26-17 lead with 5:06 left in the first half. Binkley's 3-pointer came off an outlet pass from the paint by Bailey Leininger, with Binkley sinking the wide-open shot.
Hannah Binkley, again, had another 3-pointer in the second, this one with 3:37 on the clock for a 37-28 advantage. She finished the night with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists.
"Hannah is a good shooter, and when she's on, she's hard to stop," Lewis said. "When she got going, that was a good thing for us."
It was close to a mirror image with the way LC opened the third quarter, this time going on an 8-0 run, with all eight points by Little to put LC ahead, 44-23 with 6:39 left in the quarter.
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"Ali came alive in the third quarter," Lewis said. "She got in foul trouble in the first half but came out in the third ready to play. We were able to take advantage of our size, and our post had a good game offensively and defensively."
Those were answered with nine consecutive points by WHS, with Wardlow, Jayde Parr and a 3-pointer by Lehr for a 44-32 LC lead with 4:12 on the scoreboard.
"I've been saying all along, we are a different team, and we are not the old team," Kirschner said. "I hope if nothing else, people walk away from here realizing that we aren't the same team we used to be.
"We are going to fight and claw to the end. That's what I admired the most about my team (Thursday). We were down 24 at one time and cut it to 12. We stayed with the game plan and played hard."
LC ended the third with another shot at the buzzer, this one by McKayla Binkley 3-pointer to put LC up by 20 points at 61-41.
The scoring in the fourth was close to even, with WHS outscoring LC, 18-17.
"We grew a lot again (Thursday), and that is what this team is about as each game progresses. We want to be great now, but we want to hit our peak in February. We just want to keep improving each game, and I think we are doing that."
On JV play, LC defeated WHS, 32-18. LC was led in scoring by Emily Roush, Shelby Chisman and Shelby Marshall with six points each. The leading scorer for the Whiteoak JV team was Emily Edingfield with five points.
LC will play again on Monday as they travel for a non-conference game at Washington C.H.
The Lady 'Cats play again on Monday in a SHAC game at Fayetteville.