WAVERLY — The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs saw their season come to an end in a Division III Southeast Girls District Final at the hands of the number one seeded Alexander Lady Spartans by a final score of 54-45.
The Lady Mustangs were led in the game by Senior Peyton Scott who capped a magical season that saw her set the mark at Lynchburg-Clay for all time scoring, in boys or girls basketball, and set the single game scoring record for the Lady Mustangs program with 27 points that included an 11 out of 11 performance at the free throw line.
Sierra Benney was the second leading scorer for the Lady Mustangs and tallied eight points in the game, Zoe Fittro was next with six points and Olivia Hart and Logan Binkley had two apiece to round out the scoring for the Lady Mustangs.
Alexander was led by McKena Rice who tallied 16 points in the game and sunk one three pointer for the Lady Spartans. Also in double figures for Alexander was Rachel Richardson who finished with 14 points in the game and hit two three pointers while also sinking both opportunities at the free throw line.
Marlee Grinstead finished with nine points for the Lady Spartans and Kaia Meeks had eight points while Mallory Rankin totaled five points and Jadyn Mace rounded out the scoring for Alexander with two points.
Alexander struck first when Rice scored on a layup at the seven minute mark of the first quarter.
Scott tied the game for the Lady Mustangs 14 seconds later with a patented pull up jumper from mid range.
A 9-2 run over the next two and a half minutes by the Lady Spartans extended Alexander’s lead to 11-4 before Binkley hit a layup while being fouled but, missed the free throw opportunity, to cut the lead to seven points with the scoreboard reading 11-4.
Scott snagged an offensive rebound and scored on the put back a short time later to cut the lead to five points with 3:28 to play in the first quarter.
From there the Lady Spartans added four points to the scoreboard and Lynchburg-Clay’s Benney hit one of two free throws and a three pointer to provide a 15-10 score after the first quarter in favor of the ladies from Alexander.
In the second quarter of play Scott found a rhythm as she scored 10 of Lynchburg-Clay’s 15 points in the quarter and hit a pull up jumper with 14 seconds to play in the first half that gave the Lady Mustangs a 25-24 advantage at the halftime break.
Scott continued to dominate in the third quarter when she scored all nine of the Lady Mustangs points in the frame. Alexander outscored Lynchburg-Clay 15-9 in the quarter and took a 34-39 lead into the fourth quarter of play.
Fittro hit a three pointer to open the fourth quarter and Benney followed up with an offensive rebound and outback to tie the socre at 39 with 5:47 to play in the game.
The Lady Spartans answered with a 9-2 run that was capped with a layup by Rice with 1:53 to go and gave Alexander a 48-41 lead.
Alexander hit all six of it’s free throws over the final two minutes of play to secure the 54-45 win and a trip to the D III Regional Tournament.
Score by quarters
LCHS 10-15-9-11
AHS 15-9-15-15
Lynchburg-Clay: Fittro 1(1)-1/2-6; Hart 1-2; Benney 1(1)-3/4-8; Scott 8-11/11-27; Binkley 1-0/1-2
Totals: 12(2)-15/17-45
Alexander: Mace 2/4-2; Rice 5(1)-3/4-16; Richardson 5(1)-3/4-14; Rankin 1(1)-5; Meeks 3-2/2-8; Grinstead 2-5/6-9
Totals: 14(4)-14/16-54
Ryan Applegate is the Sports Editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
