Sluggish showing hinders Lady Scots’ chance of splitting SAC title in loss against Richmond

ROCKINGHAM — With a shot at splitting the Sandhills Athletic Conference regular-season championship Friday, the Scotland women’s basketball team had to play ideal basketball, especially in a hostile environment on the road against the Richmond Raiders.

But the near-flawless play the Lady Scots needed didn’t show up for much of the night — when it did, it came in the fourth quarter when they were down double digits.

The lethargic performance by Scotland resulted in Richmond winning 59-38 and sweeping the SAC 12-0 to claim the conference title outright.

“Things happen in the game of basketball, senior night for them,” Scotland coach Roshien McClain said. “He (Richmond coach Teddy Moseley) stayed with his same lineup, which I knew he would, but I think we’ll be all right.”

McClain said some of how his team played could be because of players nursing injuries; though, he said it’s not why his team lost.

“Some things in practice happened this week, but I can’t blame that on the game tonight,” McClain said. “They were out there playing. They were hurt, but they were playing; Alicia (McClain) and Kayla (Simmons) got hurt. Alicia got hurt against Lee County. Kayla got hurt in practice. But no excuses. They scrapped it up and played. I wasn’t even sure they were going to play today, but they played.”

After nearly six minutes of play in the first quarter, the score stood at a 2-2 tie; Alicia McClain’s layup for Scotland (19-3, 10-2 SAC) at the 1:36 mark made it 4-2 before Richmond (20-4) finished the stanza on an 8-0 run to lead 10-4.

“It’s tough when you can’t make them early baskets in the first quarter,” Roshien McClain said. “We missed four layups in the first quarter and all good looks. We’ve got to make those. But they did do what they’re supposed to do.”

Ryelan Lyerly hit a 3-pointer 18 seconds into the second to continue Richmond’s scoring streak before Morgan Thompson, who finished with a game-high 24 points, ended it by making her first field goal on a layup and scoring six of Scotland’s ensuing eight points to make it a 17-13 deficit for Scotland. However, the Raiders went into halftime ahead 27-13 after closing the half with a 10-0 run in the last 2:27.

“They threw another zone at us, but I still felt like we didn’t come out in the other quarters with enough energy, especially (the) second quarter,” Roshien McClain said. “We didn’t come out with enough energy. We got lackadaisical out there.”

Three consecutive two-point baskets from the Raiders opened the third quarter, part of an 11-3 spurt that gave them a 38-16 lead. Richmond’s largest lead came with about two minutes to go in the period at 44-20 following two free throws from Jasiah Gilchrist; Simmons and Thompson each scored a pair of points on the last two Scotland possessions to go into the fourth down 44-24.

Richmond’s lead remained between 18 and 22 points until a floater by Thompson with 3:19 left made it 52-36; Thompson scored Scotland’s only other basket from there on with another floater within a minute remaining.

“We’ll see them again Friday; we’ll be back here next Friday,” Roshien McClain on potentially playing Richmond again. “Promise you that. Different outcome, different ball game. I love the challenge. I think we understand better. I saw some things I did in the fourth quarter; we can capitalize on that next game when we see them. So, I like what I saw in the fourth. Sometimes, you go into a game thinking, I don’t know if we can do that, but I think we can do that. So you’ll see a different mindset next Friday.”

Gilchrist scored 21 points for Richmond; Jamyia Lindsey scored 16 and Madisen Jackson had 11.

With the regular season now over, Scotland is the No. 2 seed for the SAC women’s basketball tournament and will host No. 7 Southern Lee in the first round on Monday.

“I think we got a good draw,” Roshien McClain said. “If we’d won, we still probably would have not gotten the top seed by the coin flip. So either way, I think, I know it’s crazy, but I would rather play three (games) than play two.”

Following the women’s game, Scotland and Richmond’s men faced off, with the Raiders prevailing 104-66.

Scotland only trailed 21-15 after the first quarter and 44-36 at halftime but was outscored 28-13 in the third and 32-17 in the fourth.

Paul McNeil Jr. scored 40 points to lead Richmond, which moved to 19-5 and clinched a 12-0 sweep of the SAC with the win; JV Drake scored 26 and David McNair had 13.

Shylan Harrell led Scotland, which drops to 9-15 overall and finishes 4-8 in SAC play, with 17 points and Johnathon Graham and Dylan Lampley scored 16 each.

Scotland is the fifth seed for the SAC men’s basketball tournament and will visit No. 4 Pinecrest in the first round on Tuesday.