Lady Mustangs win consecutive SHAC games; defeat West Union and Manchester

DODSONVILLE — The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs had consecutive wins on Friday, Jan. 30 and Monday, Feb. 2, with both wins coming against opponents from the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. 

Monday night’s game saw the Lady Mustangs defeat the visiting West Union Lady Dragons, 49-39 for a Southern Hills Athletic Conference win. 

The Lady Mustangs were led by Addy Carraher with 16 points as she made three 3-pointers, three two-point baskets and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line for the game. 

“Addy played really well in the first half, shot the ball really well and got us off to a good start,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis said. “She hit that big shot in the fourth quarter too, and that put us up by 10. That was a really big shot for us.”

Carraher’s evening began with a strong first quarter for the Lady Mustangs as the team led the frame 14-7 with the junior scoring 10 points in the quarter, including two 3-pointers and two two-point shots from the field. 

LCHS opened that first frame with a basket by Lily Ferguson, and after a 3-pointer by West Union’s Annabelle McIntosh, Carraher made her first 3-pointer of the game. After WUHS tied the score at 5-5 with another basket by McIntosh, Carraher came back with a second 3-pointer, followed by two free throws made by Ferguson and a two-point basket from Carraher, making the score 12-5 with LCHS leading with 1:55 left in the opening quarter. 

West Union came back with a basket from Maddie Stout, but it was Carraher adding to the Lady Mustang lead with a two-point bucket with 44 seconds left in the frame for a 14-7 score. 

Though West Union opened the second frame with five straight points (including a 3-pointer) from Stout, Lynchburg-Clay battled back, taking what became a two-point lead (14-12) and turning it into an eight-point lead at 20-12 with a one-handed basket by Joslyn Rockey, two free throws made by Ferguson and a put-back basket by Madison McMullen with 3:41 left in the first half. 

Ferguson finished with 15 points as she ended the game with four two-point baskets and was 7-of-11 from the free-throw line. She also added three rebounds, two assists, four steals and one block. 

McMullen totaled eight points with two baskets, and a 4-of-4 night with her free-throw attempts. McMullen also totaled eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. 

As the two teams continued the quarter, West Union got back to within a point of the LCHS lead with 1:18 on the clock following a 3-pointer by Violet Randolph and a put-back bucket from Emmy Stapleton for a 24-23 score. By the time the second quarter ended, LCHS led 28-25 as they had a three-point play from Ferguson and a free throw made by Carraher. 

The Lady Mustangs led by six points when the third quarter ended at 36-30 as their lead increased by two points with a basket by McMullen, and later at the 3:29 mark it was Ferguson scoring two points in the paint for a 32-28 lead. 

West Union’s Kaydence Cook made it a two-point game with a basket with 1:59 on the clock, and from there LCHS ended the third with two free throws made by Rockey and a basket from Savannah Bell for the 36-30 score. 

Rockey finished with six points by sinking two two-point baskets, and she was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Rockey added six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“Joslyn doesn’t have a ton of points on the scorebook, but she’s the staple for us on both sides of the ball,” Lewis said. “She’s rebounding against kids who are 6-foot tall, and she’s scrapping for the basketball. All grit with that kid. She’s also a calming presence on offense when we just need to go through what we need to do.”

Bell totaled two points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal.

After outscoring West Union 8-5 in the third, Lynchburg-Clay won the fourth quarter at 13-9 for the 10-point win. 

LCHS in the fourth had two free throws from McMullen, five points by Carraher and two points each from Ferguson, Rockey and Ava McLaughlin. McLaughlin finished with two points, three rebounds and one steal.

The final basket of the game with 3:19 left on the fourth-quarter clock was a 3-pointer by Carraher, sealing the win as the LCHS squad played tough defense the rest of the way. 

“We controlled the tempo in the fourth quarter … the third quarter was low scoring for both teams, and opening up the fourth quarter you knew it was going to execute and kind of grind it out for the win,” Lewis said. “We got some breakaway layups and some easy points in the fourth quarter and took control of the ball game. I’m really proud of the kids for just executing and finishing up the basketball game, and coming out as the aggressor and playing hard on both sides of the basketball.”

Team totals for LCHS included 13 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers (Carraher 3) and they were 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) from the free-throw line. The Lady Mustangs also totaled 27 rebounds (eight offensive), nine assists, 13 steals and two blocks with 11 turnovers. 

West Union was led by Stout with 14 points, as she made two 3-pointers and four two-point baskets. She also had 13 rebounds for a double-double (including seven offensive rebounds), four assists and three steals. 

McIntosh ended with 11 points (three 3-pointers) and one two-point field goal. She also collected four rebounds, three assists and two steals. 

Other final totals for West Union were: Cook (two points, six rebounds), Jocelyn Hall (six rebounds, three blocks), Randolph (six points with two 3-pointers, six rebounds), Shelbi Weakley (two rebounds), Stapleton (two points, three rebounds) and Madison White (four points, three rebounds). 

Team totals for the Lady Dragons included nine two-pointers, seven 3-pointers (Stout 2, McIntosh 3, Randolph 2), 43 rebounds (20 offensive), 11 assists, seven steals and four blocks with 18 turnovers. 

LCHS now stands at 5-7 in the SHAC Div. I standings and 7-12 overall. West Union moves to 3-7 in the SHAC Div. I standings and 6-10 overall.

Next for the Lady Mustangs is a home non-conference game on Wednesday, Feb. 4 vs. Bethel-Tate. From there, LCHS will play on Thursday, Feb. 12 in their final SHAC game of the season at home vs. Ripley. 

“We are wrapping up the season, and I’m proud of the kids for really working hard, and that’s a good sign as we are headed into postseason play,” Lewis said.

BOX SCORE
WUHS        07 18 05 09 — 39
LCHS         14 14 08 13 — 49

On Friday, Jan. 30, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs defeated the Manchester Lady Greyhounds in SHAC action by a 60-41 score at Manchester High School, as the game was originally scheduled at LCHS. 

LCHS jumped out to a 17-7 lead after the first quarter was finished and followed that with a 16-8 second quarter for a halftime lead of 33-15. 

Lynchburg-Clay won the third frame at 15-9, and in the fourth Manchester took that frame at 17-12. 

Addy Carraher led LCHS with a 20-point game, finishing with five 3-pointers and two two-point buckets. Carraher also had five rebounds, two assists and five steals. 

Lily Ferguson ended the game with 20 points by making seven two-point baskets, and she was also 6-of-9 in her free-throw attempts. She also collected two rebounds, three assists and four steals. 

Madison McMullen had eight points in the win with three two-point field goals and she finished 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. McMullen also collected seven rebounds, two assists and five steals. 

Ava McLaughlin and Savannah Bell each scored four points with McLaughlin also having five rebounds, three assists and one steal. Bell finished with seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. Joslyn Rockey finished with three points (a 3-pointer), along with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. 

LCHS had final team totals of 17 two-point field goals, six 3-pointers (Carraher 5, Rockey 1), and they were 8-of-13 from the free-throw line. They also had totals of 34 rebounds (15 offensive), 18 assists, 21 steals and 11 turnovers.

Manchester was led in scoring by Lyrric Hanson with 16 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Hayden Rideout totaled 12 points, eight rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block. 

MHS also had totals from Mahayla Brown (five points, seven rebounds), Maddi Curtis (one point, four rebounds), Maddie Easter (seven points, three rebounds, five assists), Faith Scott (six rebounds) and Kayla Johnson (one assist, one steal). 

Team totals for Manchester were 12 two-point baskets, five 3-pointers (Hanson 4, Easter 1), and they were 2-of-10 from the free-throw line. MHS also had 36 rebounds (seven offensive), 12 assists, six steals, three blocks and 30 turnovers. 

BOX SCORE
MHS      07 08 09 17 — 41
LCHS    17 16 15 12 — 60