Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

WAVERLY — Remember the movie “Trading Places” with Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy? The South Point Lady Pointers made a sequel Thursday.

The Lady Pointers suffered through a dismal performance in the first half while the Lynchburg Clay Lady Mustangs were making shots, playing defense and dominating the glass.

Trailing 25-9 at the half, the Lady Pointers became the aggressor and began doing the things that the Lady Mustangs had done in the first half. As a result, South Point rallied for a 46-40 win in the Division III district semifinals.

South Point shot a dismal 2-of-24 in the first half — 12 percent — and just 13-of-60 for the game for 21.7 percent. The Lady Pointers did shoot 11-of-36 in the second half and 19-of-29 from the foul line including 10-of-14in the fourth quarter.

“Once we made a run at them, they looked really rattled. At halftime, we made a few adjustments, but I said there’s no reason why we can’t have a second half like they had the first half,” said Lady Pointers’ coach Dave Adams.

“The shots in the second half weren’t much different than the first half. We were just rushing everything the first half.”

South Point (20-4) now plays Nelsonville-York at noon on Saturday, March 1, in Waverly. N-Y beat Lucasville Valley 59-45.

Aundrea Bradburn had 12 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists to lead the Lady Pointers.

South Point held a 48-31 rebound advantage. Brett Justice grabbed 14 and Bonnie Hileman came off the bench to get seven.

“A team that has that much size on you, if you’re even (rebounding) you win. That’s kind of their game to speed you up, get layups and rebounds and putbacks and that’s what they did the first half. They had everything the way they wanted the first half,” said Adams.

Justice made two foul shots to give South Point a 2-0 lead and a layup by Bradburn had the Lady Pointers down 5-4. The Lady Mustangs took over and took a 15-4 lead at the end of the quarter.

A 3-pointer by Hannah Binkley opened up a 22-6 lead with 2:17 left in the half. Brianna Bacon got South Point’s only field goal of the second quarter at the 2:04 mark and it wa 22-8.

But a triple by Morgan Fittro just before the half gave Lynchburg a 25-9 cushion.

After a 19-fotoer by Sarah Rosselott put the lead at 27-9, South Point went on a 12-0 run and trailed 29-19.

Haley Rawlins made two free throws with seven seconds on the clock and South Point was down 25-23 at the end of the quarter.

“Our goal was to cut it to 10 by the fourth quarter. We had it but then we let it get away at the end of the third quarter. Being down 16 didn’t worry me as much as all we had was nine,” said Adams.

The Lady Pointers continued to rally to start the fourth quarter as Lynchburg continued its meltdown.

Justice made two fouls shots, Rawlins had two free throws and a layup before Lexi Waits hit a trifecta for the Lady Mustangs to temporarily stop the bleeding and it was 38-29 with 4:44 to go.

Rosselett had a layup with 3:59 left and it was 40-31. South Point then finished the game with 15 unanswered points as they forced eight turnovers and hit 6-of-8 at the foul line including three by Brooklyn Badgett in the final 17 seconds.

“We started making some foul shots. Brooklyn hit some big foul shots down the stretch.

The Lady Mustangs were 2-of-13 from the field in the quarter.

“The press gave them trouble. We changed up the zone and we went fullcourt when we would score or there was a deadball down there. We really attacked the basket and we changed up our zone and they never really attack it.”

South Point 5 4 14 23 = 46

Lynchburg 14 11 10 5 = 40

SOUTH POINT (20-4): Haley Rawlins 2 0 5-8 9, Brooklyn Badgett 0 0 3-4 3, Brett Justice 1 0 6-6 8, Abbey Winkler 0 1 3-4 6, Aundrea Bradburn 6 0 0-0 12 Brianna Bacon 1 0 0-0 2, Lakin Adams 0 0 0-0 0, Bonnie Hileman 2 0 2-7 6. Totals: 13-60 19-29 46. 3-point goals: 1-12. Rebounds: 22-O, 26-D = 48 (Justice 14, Bradburn 8, Hileman 7). Team/deaedball rebounds: 7. Assists: 2 (Bradburn 2). Steals: 8 (Bradburn 4). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

LYNCHBURG CLAY (16-7): Morgan Fittro 0 1 2-2 5, Ali Little 4 0 1-2 9, Sarah Rosselott 3 0 3-4 9, Hannah Binkley 1 2 0-2 8, McKayla Binkley 1 0 0-0 2, Madysyn Creighton 2 0 0-0 4, Madison Wills 0 0 0-0 0, Vanessa Thiel 0 0 0-0 0, Lexi Waits 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 15-54 6-10 40. 3-point goals: 4-18. Rebounds: 11-O, 3-D = 31 (Little 14, H. Binkley 6, M. Binkley 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 9 (Fittro 2, Creighton 2, Wills 2). Steals: 6 (Fittro 3, M. Binkley 3). Turnovers: 24. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Rosselott (4th 0:33).