Lightning reach 1st state title game
Swann’s four-point play helps upend Engineers
Long Reach’s offense got the better of Poly’s defense at the moment it counted in the Class 3A girls basketball state semifinal Thursday night.
Lyric Swann’s four-point play with 1:06 left in the game sealed the No. 7 Lightning’s trip to the state final with a 66-61victory over No. 6 Poly at Towson University’s SECU Arena. In their first appearance in the state tournament, the Lightning pulled through in a game that featured 21 lead changes — seven of them in the fourth quarter.
Swann, the Lightning’s leading scorer, hit her fifth 3-pointer and got up off the ground to make the free throw for the 66-61 lead that would hold up. Her shot came right after the Lighting’s top inside threat, Arianna BriggsHall, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds, fouled out of the game.
With 2:46 left, Poly took a 61-60 lead on Cache’ Wilson’s basket, but the Engineers (21-5) would not score again. Kiana Williams hit Briggs-Hall for a layup before Swann finished it off.
“I felt like I was hitting some shots so once I saw that I was open, I looked for my shot and I made it,” Swann said. “Everyone was getting me pumped up and then I looked up at the scoreboard and I realized how big of a shot it was and I was just happy.”
The Lightning (21-2) advance to meet defending champion Frederick (25-2) for the title Saturday at 8 p.m. at SECU Arena.
Poly’s defense hounded the Lightning, but the co-Howard County champions kept coming at the Baltimore City champions. They took 16 3-point shots and hit six.
Their backcourt duo led the way as Swann scored 20 points and Williams added 17 along with five assists.
Williams, a senior headed to BethuneCookman, and Swann, a junior committed to UMBC, have both scored more than 1,000 points in their careers. Williams scored a career-high 40 in a regular-season route of Atholton. Swann, who averages 19.2 points, hits 37 percent from 3-point range. She hit five of nine from beyond the arc Thursday.
Poly, which had been aiming for its first state title, struggled on the offensive end, hitting just 26 of 73 shots, although they hit eight of 10 free throws. Junior Brashae Rice led the Engineers with 19 points while Wilson added 11 and Jada Gross10.
Poly made it to the state semifinals for the sixth time in seven years with a young team.
“I thoroughly enjoyed working with the group of young ladies I worked with this season,” Poly coach Kendall Peace-Able said at the postgame press conference. “I think that we have a lot of promise. I think they have the right energy and the right heart so that you all will see them again.”