ROCKINGHAM — The Lady Scots were jumping out of their seats Friday, as the win they had waited so long for finally came.
It took an extra four minutes of overtime play, but the Lady Scots picked up the 51-48 victory over Richmond. The Lady Raiders iddn’t make it easy on the Lady Scots leading the first half and taking a 17-16 lead into the locker room.
The Lady Scots managed to close the gap in the second quarter with baskets from senior Amaya Pegues and junior Niaria Leach to trim the Lady Raiders lead to one.
Scotland came out aggressive on defense in the third quarter and put Richmond on its heels as they took a 30-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Scots had opportunities to put the game away in the final period but missed free-throws forced the game into overtime. Senior Tykeria McNair made the game-tying baskets as her teammates cheered from the bench.
The Lady Scots struck first in overtime as Pegues split a pair of free throws to take a one-point lead, 44-43. A steal by Leach and a basket by senior Tremaine Peterson increased the Lady Scots lead to two, 46-44.
Richmond never led in overtime as the Lady Scots despite dominating the time of possession due to pulling down multiple rebounds off each shot they took.
The Lady Scots made their trips to the line count, as Leach finished off the game with a pair to give the Lady Scots a 51-48 lead with 0.3 seconds left on the clock.
The Lady Raiders tried to inbound the ball, but the throw was picked off my Pegues. Leach and her teammates celebrated as they shook hands and after ran off the court, saying “let’s go!”
It’s the first win for the Lady Scots since November. It’s been a tough season for the team, and the overtime win against Richmond just might have sparked something.
As the No. 7 seed in the girl’s standings the Lady Scots finished the season 2-12 in SAC-8 play and 3-17 overall.
The undefeated Pinecrest Lady Patriots were crowned the regular season champions with a perfect 14-0 conference record and a 21-1 overall. Pinecrest’s only loss came in non-conference action back in December against Broughton High School in Raleigh. The Lady Patriots lost 58-43.
The reigning conference champions, Lumberton, finished as the No. 2 seed this season finishing 11-3 in conference play and have an overall record of 20-4. The Lady Pirates three losses came against Pinecrest and Jack Britt.
Jack Britt earned the No. 3 seed with a 9-5 conference record and finished 11-11 overall. The Lady Buccaneers finished two games ahead of No. 4 Hoke. The Lady Bucks ended the regular season 8-6 in SAC-8 play and 10-12 overall.
Hoke edged out Seventy-First for the No. 4 seed, pushing the Lady Falcons down to the No. 5 seed. Seventy-First finished the season with a 9-6 conference record and 15-9 overall.
Richmond earned the No. 6 seed with a 3-11 conference record and ended the season 5-14 overall. The Lady Raiders finished one game ahead of No. 7 Scotland while the Lady Scots finished one game ahead of No. 8 Purnell Swett.
The Lady Rams finished the season 1-13 in conference play and 5-16 overall.
The first round of the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament began Monday night as the four higher seeded teams — Pinecrest, Lumberton, Jack Britt and Hoke — hosted the four lower ranked teams — Purnell Swett, Scotland, Richmond and Seventy-First.
The winner of the Pinecrest vs. Purnell Swett game will play the winner of the Seventy-First vs Hoke in the second round of the SAC-8 tournament at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 14. The winner of the Lumberton vs. Scotland game will play the winner of the Jack Britt vs. Richmond game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday as well.
The girl’s SAC-8 championship game will be played on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. with the higher seeded team hosting.
Amber Hatten-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or [email protected].