Lady Mustangs gallop to district finals; top Pirates
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
WAVERLY — The tournament road for the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs is headed to Athens.
LC did everything needed to lead for a majority of their Division III SE District Semifinal matchup Monday night, defeating the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates, 45-36, in Waverly.
Next for LC is a date with No. 1 seed Minford, who defeated North Adams, 55-40 in the first game Monday at Waverly. MHS is 19-3 overall.
This is the second post season win for LC, nine days after winning in overtime in their sectional final game against Adena.
"We really tried to play to our strengths and stop theirs," LC head coach Tiffany Barnett said. "We knew they had strong guard play, and we knew they had spot-up shooters, but it was a matter of just playing defense, knowing where they were at and basically playing solid defense.
"I don't think we did a solid job of that. We kind of got fortunate here."
On Monday, the height of the Lady Mustangs was too much for Wheelersburg to handle, with sophomore Laney Lewis and junior Brooke Hertlein standing at 6-0, while the Lady Pirates' tallest players stood at 5-8.
Hertlein and Lewis each had four fouls in the game, but both were productive as they caused chaos in the paint, defensively. Hertlein wrapped up the game with 20 points, shooting 8-of-15, along with eight rebounds, two blocked shots and one assist.
Lewis finished with 14 rebounds, nine points, two blocked shots, two steals and one assist. Lewis' defense was tough on the Lady Pirates, as she and the rest of the Lady Mustangs didn't allow the Pirates to get open looks to the hoop, contesting almost every shot they attempted.
"We matched Laney up with their best shooter (Erica Schmidt) on purpose. She plays great defense, and I don't think people realize that. Laney did a really, really good job of playing defense and guarding her."
This was a overall team effort with players coming off the bench during the down time of both post players, helping to keep the LC lead, which they held for most of the game.
One player helping to keep the lead was senior Hannah Blankenship, who finished with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
For the Lady Pirates, Schmidt led them with 12 points for the game, followed by Kalyn Bailey with 11.
The time frame that changed everything for both teams was the third quarter. The third had four lead changes, with the score tied just once the entire game at 22 with 3:41 left in the quarter.
LC called a time out with 5:01 left in the quarter, just to slow things down.
"We had to control the tempo of the ball game," Barnett said. "We could not play running basketball with them. We had to slow it down and play our game. We are not good at running with teams like that. We need to get it in a half-court set and play to our strengths. We tend to get out of control when we play like that (a running game)."
Other than the short span in the third, the lead belonged to LC.
The Lady Mustangs led 21-15 at the start of the third, but seven straight points by the Lady Pirates changed that as they overtook the lead with 4:32 left in the quarter. LC didn't score in the third until the 3:41 mark when Meredith Fittro sank a free throw, tying the game at 22. Hertlein followed with two points, but Wheelersburg kept on rolling when senior Molly Knapp knocked down a 3-pointer, giving WHS back the lead.
LC regained the lead for good with 2:25 left in the quarter as Hertlein banked in a bucket, followed with a 3-pointer by Hannah Blankenship and another layup by Hertlein, for an LC lead of 31-25 with 1:15 left in the third. Emma Setty ended the third with a layup, increasing the LC lead to seven points.
"Emma did a real good job off the bench. She's a sophomore, and she hasn't got a lot of varsity minutes. I thought she played really strong in the post. I thought she played really good defense. Karen (Hilt) also did a good job off the bench. They helped hold the lead for us and keep us in the ballgame," Barnett said.
Another player who stood out defensively was senior Lillian Blankenship. LC used a man-to-man defense most of the game but switched to a zone when the fouls started stacking up.
"Lillian did a good job. I felt like composure-wise, she was trying to keep us calm, and I thought she did a good job of controlling the basketball game, being that leader we need out there on the floor," Barnett said. "Defensively this season, we didn't play in a zone unless we had to, but we will play whatever we have to play to win."
Besides a free-throw conversion by Bailey with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter, LC kept WHS away from scoring any type of points until with just over a minute remaining when Knapp sank two free throws.
The final eight minutes belonged to LC.
Though Lewis suffered her fourth foul, the sophomore post player ruled the lane with a blocked shot, and Setty also broke up a shot on a WHS fast break opportunity at the halfway point of the quarter.
LC didn't score in the fourth until Hertlein made two free throws with 3:17 left on the clock, putting the Lady Mustangs up 37-29.
All 10 points scored by LC in the fourth came from the charity stripe.
The first quarter was a quarter where both teams worked out some game rust, as neither team had played an actual game for nine days. LC led 10-5 after the first quarter and 21-15 at halftime.
Hertlein kept LC in the game offensively in the first half, scoring 12 of their 21 points, as Fittro, Lewis and Hannah Blankenship combined for the remaining nine points.
The tip-off for the Lady Mustangs and No. 1 seed Minford (19-3) has been changed from 9 p.m. Saturday, March 5 to 5 p.m. on the same day at Ohio University, at the Convocation Center for the district championship.[[In-content Ad]]
LC did everything needed to lead for a majority of their Division III SE District Semifinal matchup Monday night, defeating the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates, 45-36, in Waverly.
Next for LC is a date with No. 1 seed Minford, who defeated North Adams, 55-40 in the first game Monday at Waverly. MHS is 19-3 overall.
This is the second post season win for LC, nine days after winning in overtime in their sectional final game against Adena.
"We really tried to play to our strengths and stop theirs," LC head coach Tiffany Barnett said. "We knew they had strong guard play, and we knew they had spot-up shooters, but it was a matter of just playing defense, knowing where they were at and basically playing solid defense.
"I don't think we did a solid job of that. We kind of got fortunate here."
On Monday, the height of the Lady Mustangs was too much for Wheelersburg to handle, with sophomore Laney Lewis and junior Brooke Hertlein standing at 6-0, while the Lady Pirates' tallest players stood at 5-8.
Hertlein and Lewis each had four fouls in the game, but both were productive as they caused chaos in the paint, defensively. Hertlein wrapped up the game with 20 points, shooting 8-of-15, along with eight rebounds, two blocked shots and one assist.
Lewis finished with 14 rebounds, nine points, two blocked shots, two steals and one assist. Lewis' defense was tough on the Lady Pirates, as she and the rest of the Lady Mustangs didn't allow the Pirates to get open looks to the hoop, contesting almost every shot they attempted.
"We matched Laney up with their best shooter (Erica Schmidt) on purpose. She plays great defense, and I don't think people realize that. Laney did a really, really good job of playing defense and guarding her."
This was a overall team effort with players coming off the bench during the down time of both post players, helping to keep the LC lead, which they held for most of the game.
One player helping to keep the lead was senior Hannah Blankenship, who finished with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
For the Lady Pirates, Schmidt led them with 12 points for the game, followed by Kalyn Bailey with 11.
The time frame that changed everything for both teams was the third quarter. The third had four lead changes, with the score tied just once the entire game at 22 with 3:41 left in the quarter.
LC called a time out with 5:01 left in the quarter, just to slow things down.
"We had to control the tempo of the ball game," Barnett said. "We could not play running basketball with them. We had to slow it down and play our game. We are not good at running with teams like that. We need to get it in a half-court set and play to our strengths. We tend to get out of control when we play like that (a running game)."
Other than the short span in the third, the lead belonged to LC.
The Lady Mustangs led 21-15 at the start of the third, but seven straight points by the Lady Pirates changed that as they overtook the lead with 4:32 left in the quarter. LC didn't score in the third until the 3:41 mark when Meredith Fittro sank a free throw, tying the game at 22. Hertlein followed with two points, but Wheelersburg kept on rolling when senior Molly Knapp knocked down a 3-pointer, giving WHS back the lead.
LC regained the lead for good with 2:25 left in the quarter as Hertlein banked in a bucket, followed with a 3-pointer by Hannah Blankenship and another layup by Hertlein, for an LC lead of 31-25 with 1:15 left in the third. Emma Setty ended the third with a layup, increasing the LC lead to seven points.
"Emma did a real good job off the bench. She's a sophomore, and she hasn't got a lot of varsity minutes. I thought she played really strong in the post. I thought she played really good defense. Karen (Hilt) also did a good job off the bench. They helped hold the lead for us and keep us in the ballgame," Barnett said.
Another player who stood out defensively was senior Lillian Blankenship. LC used a man-to-man defense most of the game but switched to a zone when the fouls started stacking up.
"Lillian did a good job. I felt like composure-wise, she was trying to keep us calm, and I thought she did a good job of controlling the basketball game, being that leader we need out there on the floor," Barnett said. "Defensively this season, we didn't play in a zone unless we had to, but we will play whatever we have to play to win."
Besides a free-throw conversion by Bailey with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter, LC kept WHS away from scoring any type of points until with just over a minute remaining when Knapp sank two free throws.
The final eight minutes belonged to LC.
Though Lewis suffered her fourth foul, the sophomore post player ruled the lane with a blocked shot, and Setty also broke up a shot on a WHS fast break opportunity at the halfway point of the quarter.
LC didn't score in the fourth until Hertlein made two free throws with 3:17 left on the clock, putting the Lady Mustangs up 37-29.
All 10 points scored by LC in the fourth came from the charity stripe.
The first quarter was a quarter where both teams worked out some game rust, as neither team had played an actual game for nine days. LC led 10-5 after the first quarter and 21-15 at halftime.
Hertlein kept LC in the game offensively in the first half, scoring 12 of their 21 points, as Fittro, Lewis and Hannah Blankenship combined for the remaining nine points.
The tip-off for the Lady Mustangs and No. 1 seed Minford (19-3) has been changed from 9 p.m. Saturday, March 5 to 5 p.m. on the same day at Ohio University, at the Convocation Center for the district championship.[[In-content Ad]]