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Lady Mustangs defeat HHS in opener

Saturday, 29 November 2008

By STEPHEN FORSHA
The Times-Gazette

   With the score separating each team by just three points at the end of the first half, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs used their experience at the varsity level to dominate most of the second half, as LCHS defeated the Hillsboro Lady Indians 56-31 at the Patriot Center on Friday night.
        The first half saw a barrage of 3-pointers to tipoff the game with L-C senior Kelsey Lewis netting the first one of the game, but she was quickly answered with a trey by HHS junior Shelby Coyle to tie the game at three.
   Coyle gave the Lady Indians their first lead of the game with 6:26 remaining in the first quarter, connecting again from beyond the arc.
   L-C sophomore Lillian Blankenship then answered Coyle's trey, tying the game at six with a 3-pointer.
   With the score tied, HHS senior Lauren Gunderman took back the lead for the Lady Indians with a jumper, making the score 8-6 with 4:44 left in the quarter.
   Lewis, with her team trailing by two points, drained her second 3-pointer of the quarter with 17 seconds remaining to give the Lady Mustangs an 11-10 advantage.
   Each team continued to chip away slowly at one another, with L-C junior Cali Hatten hitting a free throw, but was duplicated by Coyle when she netted a shot from the free-throw line.
   With Lewis giving the Lady Mustangs the lead in the middle stages of the second quarter, Coyle hit another 3-pointer with 3:27 left in the half.
   Trailing by two points, Lewis came up big again for the Lady Mustangs, as the senior drilled another shot for three points, giving L-C a 17-16 lead with 29 seconds left in the quarter.
   “Offensively we had a slow start," Lynchburg-Clay head coach Linda Hatten said. "We were relying on the 3-pointer too much and we told them at the half we weren't going to do that. It was a struggle for us in the first half and we did a much better job in the second half shooting."
   As the second half started, L-C gained momentum early in the third, with a three-point play by Lindsey Hawk, followed with points from Lewis, Hannah Blankenship and Lillian Blankenship, making the score 31-19 at the 4:11 mark of the quarter.
   Gunderman stopped the consecutive points scored by L-C with a 3-pointer at the 3:06 mark of the quarter.
   But again, Hannah Blankenship answered with another L-C 3-pointer at the 1:37 mark of the third, increasing the Lady Mustangs' lead to 34-22.
   Lewis ended the third with a shot at the buzzer increasing L-C's lead to 14 points.
   Lillian Blankenship started off the fourth with a 3-pointer. Hillsboro junior Heather Storer connected twice from the free-throw line to make the score 41-26 with 7:23 remaining in the game.
   Lewis hit her fourth 3-pointer with 6:29 remaining in the game. Lewis finished with a game-high 23 points. The senior finished 8-of-14 from the field, with two blocks. Hatten led LCHS with 10 rebounds.
   Hatten, Hawk, Lillian Blankenship and Hannah Blankenship each had three assists.
   L-C sophomore Lindsey Rosselott scored on a fast break layup late in the fourth.
   Hillsboro senior Kelsey Juillerat also scored a layup late in the contest. HHS senior Kayla Burns sank a free throw with 15 seconds remaining in the game.
   "I thought the experience of the Lynchburg-Clay program showed. Linda has done a great job over there and we have to get the confidence to take shots when we are open," Hillsboro head coach Herb Mihalik said. "We have to get to a point where its catch the ball and react, not catch and think.
   "The girls played hard and didn't give up. We have to continue to play hard and play as a team."
   The win improves L-C to 1-0 this season. HHS falls to 0-1 on the year.
   HHS will play again tonight, as they will take on Piketon at 8:15 p.m. at Paint Valley High School in Bainbridge.
   L-C will play again on Thursday, Dec. 4 as they host county foe Fairfield at 6 p.m.
   In reserve action, the Lady Mustangs defeated Hillsboro 31-29. Merideth Fittro led LCHS with 12 points. HHS was led by Price with seven.

GAME SUMMARY:
SCORE BY QUARTER
LCHS — 11 8 19 18 — 56
HHS — 10 6 8 7 — 31

INDIVIDUAL STATS:
LYNCHBURG-CLAY (56)
H.Blankenship 0 (2) 0-2 6, L.Blankenship 1 (2) 2-2 10, L.Rosselott 1 2, K.Lewis 4 (4) 3-4 23, C.Hatten 1 1-2 3, B.Hertline 1 1-2 3, L.Hawk 1 7-12 9. TOTALS: 9 (8) 14-24 56.

HILLSBORO (31)
S.Coyle 1 (3) 1-2 12, K.Burns 1-2 1, L.Gunderman 1 (1) 5, H.Storer 2 3-4 7, K.Juillerat 2 4, H.Royce 1 2. TOTALS: 7 (4) 5-8 31.