NGAC Girls’ Basketball: LaFayette, Lakeview battle down to the wire

The Lakeview Middle School Lady Warriors went 5 of 6 from the free throw line in the final 49.7 seconds and pulled out a 26-21 win at LaFayette this past Tuesday.

Lakeview led 8-6 at the end of the first quarter and 13-9 at halftime. However, the Lady Ramblers would hold their guests scoreless in the third quarter to send the game to the final period all knotted up at 13 apiece.

The Lady Ramblers would score on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter and added an Erin Hughes free throw to take a five-point lead. But Lakeview would answer with an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers by Rachel Lopez, to reclaim a 21-18 advantage with 2:27 to play.

Aubrey Blankenship would pull LaFayette even as she converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with 1:02 remaining, but a technical foul on LaFayette with just under 50 seconds to play allowed Lopez to hit 1 of 2 shots to give her team a one-point lead.

The Lady Ramblers would miss twice before committing an offensive foul with 13.2 seconds left. Riley White would hit both free tosses to put her team up three. Heather Tucker would draw a foul for LaFayette with 8.8 seconds to go, but missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Lady Ramblers were forced to put Lopez on the line.

The Lady Warriors’ point guard calmly sunk both shots with 7.9 seconds to go, effectively sealing the win.

Lopez finished with 13 points, nine coming in the fourth quarter, while Morgan Noblitt added three points.

Blankenship led LaFayette with 10 points, followed by Hughes with six, Tucker with four and Savanna Hall with one.

Dade County girls 47, Saddle Ridge 34

The defending NGAC champions fell behind the Lady Mustangs, 12-6, after the first quarter, but outscored the Navyand-Red, 33-5, over the next two quarters to take a 39-17 lead into the fourth.

Saddle Ridge battled back with 17 fourthquarter points, but it would not be enough as the Lady Wolverines went on to the win.

LaTyah Barber had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six steals for Saddle Ridge, while Haley Stahl picked up eight points and three rebounds.

Ashlyn Jenkins had four points, three steals and one rebound. Mykeria Johnson collected three points, eight rebounds and two steals. Grace Hamilton added three points and one rebound, while Madi Ashley had two points, four rebounds and a steal.

Saddle Ridge girls 42, LaFayette 22

The Navy-and-Red led 17-4 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back as they beat their division rivals on the road on Thursday. It was a big night for Johnson, who poured in 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, collected four steals and added two blocks.

Barber picked up 14 points to go with nine steals and seven rebounds. Hamilton added six points and a pair of steals, while Ashley scored two points, pulled down two rebounds and added two steals.

Other contributors included Stahl, Jenkins, Sam Cramer, Imani Cook, Anna Grace Gilreath and Abby Sansing as Saddle Ridge moved to 3-3 on the year.

Individual scoring for LaFayette (1-5) was not provided as of press time.

Saddle Ridge JV girls 16, Rossville 8

The junior varsity Lady Mustangs got six points, three steals and three rebounds from Haynie Jane Gilstrap in a win over Rossville on Monday.

The Navy-and-Red jumped out to a sixpoint first-quarter lead, but saw it slowly dwindle as they failed to score a single point in the third period.