WAVERLY — The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs traveled to Waverly on Thursday night to take on the Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes in a Division III Southeast District Semi Final tournament game. The Lady Mustangs were able to rally from as many as 12 points down in the second half to claim the 46-38 win.
Lynchburg-Clay’s all-time leading scorer for boys or girls basketball, Peyton Scott, added another chapter to her story book Lady Mustangs career against the Lady Buckeyes as she scored 32 of her team’s 46 points.
Scott was especially effective in the fourth quarter with the Lady Mustangs trailing by eight points at 34-26 to begin the frame. Peyton hit a layup to start the fourth and Zoe Fittro hit two from the charity stripe with 5:32 to play to get LC to within five points at 35-30.
A short time later Scott gathered an offensive rebound and finished the put back before hitting a pull up jumper that as she faded to her right and had the ball stripped mid air only to gather the ball while still in the air and finish the shot to cut the Lady Buckeyes’ lead to one point at 35-34.
Following a timeout by Lynchburg-Clay Head Coach Whitney Lewis at the 3:13 mark of the final frame, Scott was fouled and converted both shots on the one and one opportunity to give Lynchburg-Clay it’s first lead of the second half at 36-35.
Kaylee Lunsford got in on the action with a layup off a beautiful feed from Scott to push the Lady Mustangs’ lead to three points before the Lady Buckeyes tied the game at 38 with a three pointer at the 1:33 mark in the fourth quarter.
From that point on Scott scored eight unanswered points for the Lady Mustangs including six for six from the free throw line in the last minute to secure the District Semi Final win.
Both teams started the game cold from the field and the scoreboard read 3-1 in favor of the Lady Mustangs with 4:36 to play in the first quarter. Scott extended the lead to 6-1 in LC’s favor before the Lady Buckeyes reeled off five consecutive points to tie it at six.
The teams exchanged baskets over the final 1:30 of the first and the game was tied at eight points apiece after one.
The teams traded baskets in the second quarter with Nelsonville-York maintaining control for much of the quarter. With the score sitting at 16-14 in favor of the Lady Buckeyes and little time remaining on the clock Nelsonville-York was able to drain a three at the halftime buzzer to extend it’s lead to 19-14 as the teams headed into the locker room.
The Lady Buckeyes outscored the Lady Mustangs 15-12 in the third quarter of play and led by as many as 12 points in the quarter before settling for an eight point cushion at 34-26 to set up the final quarter of play.
Lynchburg-Clay advance to the D III Southeast District Final on Saturday, March 2, where they will take on the number one seeded Alexander Lady Spartans.
Score by quarters
LCHS 8-6-12-20
NYHS 8-11-15-4
Lynchburg-Clay: Fittro 1-2/2-4; Benny2-2/2-6; Scott 8(2)-10/10-32; Lunsford 1-2; Binkley 1-2
Totals: 13(2)-14/14-46
Nelsonville-York: Heller 1(2)-1/2-9; Sinnott 1-2; McCullah 1(3)-11; M. Hurd 2(2)-10; H. Hurd 2-2/4-6
Totals: 7(7)-3/6-38
Ryan Applegate is the Sports Editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
