Lynchburg-Clay ladies win Sectional Title with 46-43 win over Ironton

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LUCASVILLE — The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs claimed their first Sectional Title Saturday since the 2017 team advanced to the Regional Final as they beat the Ironton Lady Tigers 46-43 at Valley High School.

The Lady Mustangs advance to take on the Lady Buckeyes of Nelsonville-York at Waverly High School on Thursday, February 21. The Lady Buckeyes earned the right to play the Lady Mustangs courtesy of a 39-34 win over Oak Hill on Saturday at Jackson High School.

Lynchburg-Clay’s Peyton Scott led all scorers with 26 points and hit two three pointers in the first quarter as the Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 14-8 lead after one.

Zoe Fittro added a three pointer of her own in the first quarter and Logan Binkley had her only two points of the night in the frame to help Lynchburg-Clay to the early lead.

Fittro caught fire in the second quarter when she hit back to back three pointers off of cross-court assists by Scott and added a third the same way following basket by the Lady Tigers that pushed Lynchburg-Clay’s lead to 13 at 23-10.

Scott added six points in the quarter and Sierra Benney hit two free throws for the Lady Mustangs as they took a 31-20 advantage into the halftime locker room.

“We came out really strong and mentally ready to play,” said Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis. “A lot of teams are going to focus defense on Peyton and I thought they did there in the first half. They double teamed, they jumped our high ball screens and Peyton was able to find Zoey in the corner.”

A three pointer along with a free throw split by Benney and and a jumper for Scott was all the Lady Mustangs could muster in the third quarter offensively as the Lady Tigers locked down on Lynchburg-Clay while pouring in 13 points of their own.

Ironton converted two three pointers in the third quarter and Samantha Lafon and Elli Williams each had five points to lead the Lady Tigers in the third quarter as they trimmed the Lady Mustangs’ lead to 37-33 after three quarters of play.

Scott scored all nine of Lynchburg-Clay’s points in the third quarter despite facing a constant double and sometimes triple team from Ironton.

Peyton scored on a pull up jumper with 5:28 to play and got a fast break layup with 2:17 to play for her only field goals of the frame and went five of eight from the charity stripe in the fourth to propel the Lady Mustangs to the Sectional Title.

“Ironton is a great team, they are well coached so they weren’t going to die on us it didn’t matter what kind of lead that we had. Any team that is a good team is going to make a run,” said Lewis. “We were able to get out of that third quarter with a four point lead. That was big for us to come out of the third quarter with the lead and maintain that to end the game.”

Score by quarters

LCHS 14-11-6-9

IHS 8-12-13-8

Lynchburg-Clay: Fittro (4)-12; Benney (1)-3/4-6; Scott 7(2)-6/10-26; Binkley 1-2

Totals: 8(7)-9/14-46

Ironton: Schreck (3)-9; Lafon 5-1/4-11; Hannan 1-2/2-4; Williams 2(1)-7; Stevens (4)-12

Totals: 8(8)-3/6-43

Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.

Lynchburg-Clay senior Peyton Scott handles the ball on the wing in the second half of the Lady Mustangs’ Sectional Championship against Ironton at Valley High School on Saturday.
http://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2019/02/web1_Scott-Sectional-Final-vs-Ironton-2019.jpgLynchburg-Clay senior Peyton Scott handles the ball on the wing in the second half of the Lady Mustangs’ Sectional Championship against Ironton at Valley High School on Saturday. Ryan Applegate | The Times-Gazette

By Ryan Applegate

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