Turnovers hurt L-C in loss to Lady Green Devils

     DODSONVILLE – After winning in convincing fashion earlier in the week the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs dropped their second Southern Hills League game of the season Thursday night, as they were defeated by the North Adams Lady Green Devils 53-42.

     The game was full on intense moments, but the inconsistencies of the Lady Mustangs proved to be fatal as they committed 34 turnovers in the 32-minute SHL contest.

     “We were down four points with around a minute to go, but we beat ourselves with all the turnovers,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Linda Hatten said. “We were not mentally focused enough to play this game. We prepared like we normally do, but I don’t have an explanation for why we played like we did.”

     Lynchburg-Clay (4-2, 7-4) never led after the 3:24 mark of the first quarter.

     North Adams senior Karli Beasley stated off the scoring on the first with a 3-pointer, but the Mustangs gained the lead with two points by freshman Laney Lewis, and a 3-ball by junior Lillian Blankenship. Sophomore Brooke Hertlein gave L-C a 7-3 advantage with inside points. Lewis finished with five points and 12 rebounds.

     Then the lead belonged to the Lady Green Devils for the remainder of the game, as Beasley came back with her second 3-pointer of the first, followed with a jumper by Alison Sparks to put NA in the lead at 8-7.

     Beasley sank her third 3-poiner at the 2:34 mark of the opening quarter to increase the NA lead to four points.

     The Lady Green Devils continued to pressure L-C with their defense and capitalized on the Lady Mustangs’ turnover by scoring the first five points of the second frame. The short scoring run was stopped by L-C senior Cali Hatten with a free throw at the 5:39 mark of the second. Hatten finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. Hatten shot 7 of 10 from the floor for 70 percent.

     Beasley struck again, this time with a one-handed, off-balanced shot from the corner that went straight through the hoop to put NA ahead by eight points halfway into the second quarter.

     L-C junior Hannah Blankenship answered with a bucket, but again, the NA attack torched the Lady Mustangs with six of the next 10 points scored to take a halftime lead of 24-16.

     “In the first half the intensity on defense wasn’t there,” Hatten said. “We played better in the second half and won the third quarter. We picked things up, but we had to foul late in the fourth and North Adams is a good free throw shooting team.”

     In the aforementioned third quarter L-C senior Lindsey Hawk took the ball to the hoop for two points, as Lillian Blankenship forced a turnover and earned the assist.

     Beasley and Emily Fite answered with the next five points for NA. Then L-C added six straight points to the scoreboard as Lewis sank a put back bucket, and Hatten knocked down two consecutive inside baskets.

     NA won the final quarter by outscoring L-C 20-15.

     The Lady Green Devils (8-0, 10-1) attempted 23 free throws in the final quarter, converting 12.

     Beasley led all scorers with 23 points. Beasley was 6 of 13 from the free-throw line. Fite scored 12 points for NA. Sparks finished with nine, and Laynee Davis scored five points in the NA victory.

     The loss drops L-C to 7-4 overall, 4-2 in the SHL. NA improves to 10-1 overall, 8-0 in SHL play.

     L-C will play again this Saturday as they will travel to take on Highland County counterpart McClain at MHS, starting at 12 p.m.

BOX SCORE

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NAHS – 11 13 9 20 – 53

LCHS – 9 7 11 15 – 42

INDIVIDUAL STATS

NAHS (53)

C.Pertuget 0 1-2 1, C.Wigginton 0 1-3 1, L.Davis 1 3-6 5, K.Beasley 4 (3) 6-13 23, E.Fite 2 4-7 12, A.Sparks 2 5-6 9, A.DeBord 1 2. TOTALS: 12 (3) 20-36 53.

LCHS (42)

H.Blankenship 3 0-1 6, L.Blankenship 0 (1) 3, L.Lewis 2 1-2 5, C.Hatten 7 1-3 15, B.Hertlein 3 0-2 6, L.Hawk 2 3-6 7. TOTALS: 17 (1) 5-14 42.