Lancaster girls post 44-30 win over Royals
Lancaster pulls away in 4th quarter for win
QUARTZ HILL — Neither Lancaster coach Jessica Morrison nor Quartz Hill coach Dean Miller will tell you it was a very pretty game to watch.
Especially in the first half, which was marred by turnovers.
And after the first 16 minutes of the game, the Eagles held a slight 13-10 lead.
The Royals turned it up in the third quarter, but Lancaster matched the intensity and it carried over to the fourth quarter in which the Eagles outscored Quartz Hill, 19-8, en route to a 44-30 victory, Friday afternoon at Quartz Hill High School.
“We’re still working some things out. We know there are things we have to fix. Quartz Hill is a very good team and we knew they were going to give us a game,” Morrison said. “But we pride ourselves on our defense and we picked it up in the second half. Right now we’re just taking one game at a time.”
With the victory, the Eagles (7-1, 7-1) trail first-place Highland by one game, while the Royals dropped three games behind the Bulldogs. Lancaster and Highland meet later this month.
“We got in foul trouble and we had to change our lineup around. But we had enough opportunities in the first half to take control of the game,” Miller said. “We just didn’t take advantage of those opportunities. We had too many missed layups, too many turnovers. We played better in the third quarter. We have to close out these last six games with authority.” Savannah Arellano netted a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to give the Royals (5-3, 5-3) their first lead of the game. Demi Green followed that up with a 3-pointer of her own which capped an 8-0 run and gave Quartz Hill an 18-13 lead.
Lancaster matched the Royals and used an 8-0 run to end the quarter and hang on to a 2520 lead entering the fourth.
“We tend to step it up when we need to. This was a pretty
crucial game for us,” Lancaster’s Mea Madison said. “I thought we picked it up in the second half. We need to pick it up on offense and defense and clean up our turnovers. We could have done a lot better.”
Especially from the free throw line.
The Eagles shot a dismal 6-of-28 from the free throw line. Madison was only 2-of16 herself from the foul line. Quartz Hill totaled 4-of-10 from the free throw line.
Lancaster only led 25-22 entering the final quarter. The Royals remained close and trailed by only three points, however, a 10-0 run by the Eagles, which included 3-pointers by Chanay Samuel and Kristen Lopez gave Lancaster a 3926 lead and ice the game.
“I just think we got in our own heads. The fouls definitely hurt us, but we just let them get to us,” said Quartz Hill’s Amaya Farnes, who fouled out in the fourth quarter. “We let it go. This was a pretty important game for us. We got in a funk and it snowballed from there. I know we could have a played a lot better than we did.”
Madison and Samuel led Lancaster with 12 points each. Lopez finished with 10. Arellano led the Royals with eight points and Jessica Johnson added six.