Lady Mustangs unable to get past North Adams

SEAMAN — Meeting for the first time of their two annual matchups of the season, the first round of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference rivalry went to the North Adams Lady Green Devils, defeating the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs, 53-46 Monday at NAHS. 

The game had some missed opportunities for the Lady Mustangs from the free-throw line, and with untimely turnovers, that eventually caught up with Lynchburg-Clay, leading to their first SHAC loss of the season. 

As for the Lady Mustangs, they trailed early as they had a deficit of 12-5 after the first quarter concluded, but LCHS was first to score when Ella Barry connected with a three-point play with 7:14 on the first quarter clock for the early 3-0 lead, as Barry finished the game with eight points.

North Adams responded with two points, only to see the Lady Mustangs regain their three-point lead with a basket from Jade Massey with 6:08 left on the clock. 

Massey led LCHS with 17 points, collecting four two-point baskets, one 3-pointer, and she was 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. 

That was all the scoring for the visitors in the opening quarter, as North Adams took the lead with 4:49 left in the first with a basket by Tatum Grooms, and from there they finished the frame with eight more points, taking a 12-5 lead. 

“North Adams is just such a tough group to prepare for, and they're just a tough team,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis said. “We knew we had to come out ready to play and strong, and that first quarter, we just didn't answer that call. We got down 12-5 early, and that's hard to dig a hole out of against a good team like North Adams. 

“Just taking care of the basketball, I thought, was big for us tonight, too. Some of the decisions we made weren't exactly what we needed them to be in those key moments.”

The second quarter could have been separated into three acts, with the first act seeing North Adams build an 11-point lead with under 6:00 left in the quarter. 

From the 5:11 mark to the 1:11 mark, the Lady Mustangs took over the game with a 16-3 run, including scoring 13 consecutive points, to take back the lead at 23-21. 

That run of scoring saw Macy Etienne hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, followed by fast break points from Massey and a put-back basket by Barry, cutting the NAHS lead to four points with 4:05 left in the second, forcing a North Adams timeout. 

Following the timeout, the Lady Mustangs continued their strong play on both sides of the court, with Addison West sinking two consecutive 3-pointers, and after North Adams hit a 3-pointer of their own, it was Etienne sinking a 3-pointer for the Lady Mustangs at the 1:11 mark for a two-point LCHS lead.

West finished with 13 points for the Lady Mustangs, making two 3-pointers in the game, plus adding two two-point baskets and three free throws.

Then came the third act of the second frame where in less than a minute North Adams stood strong and scored seven straight points to end the first half, leaving Lynchburg-Clay trailing by five points at 28-23. 

“It was a battle tonight,” Lewis said. “We’re both at the top of the league, and we knew coming in it was going to be a battle and a big game. I thought the girls were ready for it, but like I said, we just made some untimely decisions and had some unfortunate situations, and the ball bounced to North Adams’ way because they made it go that way.”

North Adams held an eight-point lead when the third quarter finished, but LCHS started the third with seven straight points, with West connecting with a jumper and a three-point play from Massey, followed by another jumper by West, putting the Lady Mustangs back in front by two points at 30-28 with 5:51 left in the quarter.

North Adams rallied back with 10 consecutive points, using their 10-0 run from the 5:27 mark to the end of the frame to tie the game, then build a lead of eight points for a 38-30 lead.

The excitement continued in the final eight minutes, but from the 7:21 mark to the 4:33 mark LCHS cut the North Adams lead to five points, but they had struggles from the free throw line in that span, going 3-of-8 from the stripe.

The quarter continued with North Adams building a seven-point lead with a basket, but a 3-pointer by Massey slashed the Lady Green Devils’ lead to four points with 3:22 on the clock.

From there until the final buzzer the game, was played mostly from the free-throw line with North Adams in that span going 8-of-12. LCHS in that same time frame went 3-of-3.

In the late stages of the fourth quarter, LCHS had a three-point play from Barry where the layup and free throw makes left LCHS trailing by just two points at 46-44, but following a NAHS timeout, they scored the next five points and seven of the last nine points to seal the win. 

“For what the game was, I’m really just kind of surprised it was close as it was, because we just got outplayed on some ends of the game and kept it within three within the last two minutes or something,” Lewis said. “I don't think that we played necessarily our best, but that's a credit to North Adams and what they do to you as a defensive unit. I thought for how we showed up tonight that we gave a valiant effort and had a chance there at the end to win a ball game.”

North Adams was led by Katelynn Boerger with 18 points, Kenlie Jones with 13 points and Tatum Grooms with 11 points.

Other final LCHS totals were Etienne with six points and Waits with two points.

Both LCHS and NAHS are tied atop the SHAC at 4-1, with LCHS being 5-3 overall and North Adams standing at 5-2 overall.

Next for LCHS is a SHAC game on Thursday, Dec. 21 on the road in Leesburg against the Fairfield Lady Lions in a Highland County rivalry game. FHS is 2-3 in the SHAC and 2-4 overall.

BOX SCORE
LCHS    05 18 07 16 — 46
NAHS    12 16 10 15 — 53

NORTH ADAMS (53) — M.Shelton 1 (0) 2-4 4, T.Grooms 4 (1) 0-0 11, K.Kennedy 0 (0) 2-2 2, K.Boerger 7 (0) 4-11 18, H.Brand 1 (1) 0-0 5, K.Jones 2 (1) 6-6 13. TOTALS: 15 (3) 14-23 53.

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (46) — M.Etienne 0 (2) 0-0 6, A.Waits 1 (0) 0-0 2, A.West 2 (2) 3-7 13, J.Massey 4 (1) 6-9 17, E.Barry 3 (0) 2-2 8. TOTALS: 10 (5) 11-18 46.