Lady Scots come back from halftime deficit to beat Cedar Ridge in 1st round

LAURINBURG — Scotland coach Roshien McClain has harped about how he believes the Scotland women’s basketball team can win the 3A state championship this year.

But at halftime in its first-round game against the 24th-seeded Cedar Ridge Red Wolves Tuesday night, No. 9 Scotland was on upset alert, trailing 24-20.

However, the Lady Scots pulled away in the second half, switching to a three-quarter court press on defense to win 56-42 and stay alive in the playoffs.

“Second half, we put our foot down a little bit,” Roshien McClain said. “Alicia (McClain) softened them up a little bit by hitting some deep 3s. And that way, Morgan (Thompson) could attack and get in there. We found (Madison) Dixon a couple of times; we found Asiah (McInnis) a couple of times; Nyasia (McQueen) got fouled a few times. So, by doing that, it softens them up. Teams will try to rule out a zone against us, but there’s always a way to deal with that and always a way to speed them up with our press. We did both of them. We went man; you ain’t never seen us go man this much in three years. So, we’ve been working on a lot of man-to-man throughout the whole year. And as you can see, it’s starting to come through for us.”

Thompson scored 25 points in the win for Scotland (22-4), and Alicia McClain had 22, including three 3-pointers.

“I was getting my open shots,” Alicia McClain said. “I’ve been working on it before the game and stuff. I was really hoping I’d hit them tonight. But (Roshien McClain) said if I’m not hitting them, just attack the basket, and that’s where some of my other points came from.”

After McInnis started the scoring in the third quarter with a made shot off glass, Alicia McClain made the third of her treys to give the Lady Scots the lead at 25-24; Alicia McClain made a free throw on the next possession. And five ensuing points by Thompson put Scotland up 31-24 with 4:40 left in the frame. Cedar Ridge (13-13) stopped Scotland’s continuous scoring with seven consecutive points to knot up the score before six straight points helped the Lady Scots go back in front 37-31; Cedar Ridge’s Sarah Utley finished the quarter with a jumper and a runner to make it 37-33.

”(Roshien McClain) was like, we’ve been here multiple times where we always start slow, but the second half is always our half,” Alicia McClain said. “We always come out with more energy. And the other team was already talking a lot of noise, so it gave us more energy to go out there and do what we do.”

The Lady Scots found their rhythm early in the fourth quarter, going on a 14-2 run and extending their lead to 51-39 with 2:32 left; Kate Finnigan made a layup on the following Cedar Ridge possession, and Addie Reid hit a 3 moments after that, while the Lady Scots closed out the game with five made free throws.

“Alicia started off real good,” Roshien McClain said. “And we got that one, two, we hit you, we soften you up a little bit. Then, Morgan comes through and knocks you out. Asiah did well on the boards. We missed Kayla (Simmons) tonight; Kayla was sick. So Asiah really stepped up for Kayla and just rebounded like we needed (her) to.”

Amiyah Ware and Utley scored 18 points each for the Red Wolves.

”(Amiyah Ware), she can play,” Roshien McClain said. “She averaged 27 (points) last year before she tore her ACL, and she’s going to North Greenville. I’ve been watching her play since like sixth, seventh grade, so I already knew she could play.”

Ware scored the Red Wolves’ first four points of the night to give them a 4-3 lead early in the first quarter; Utley added a runner before Alicia McClain’s right-wing 3 tied it at 6-6. Cedar Ridge led 11-10 after outscoring Scotland 5-4 to end the period.

Both teams exchanged 3-point shots in the opening two minutes of the second, but Alicia McClain put Scotland ahead 15-14 with a layup; the Red Wolves feasted with a 10-0 spurt in less than two minutes, and in the final minute of the half, the Lady Scots scored five consecutive points to help lessen the damage at the break.

“They traveled far away, so they ain’t just going to travel three hours away and get their butt kicked by 30,” Alicia McClain said. “So, they’re going to start fast. Most teams always start fast when they come a long way. So, we just had to adjust to them because we’d never see them play. We watched film on them, but we adjusted to what they were doing.”

Scotland will now head to Wilson and face No. 8 Fike in the second round on Friday after the Demons narrowly defeated No. 25 Croatan 35-32 in their first-round matchup Tuesday.

“I watched film of them already,” Roshien McClain said on the Demons. “Just like them (the Red Wolves), they’ve got one girl who does a lot for them — Jewel Brewington. She averages about (17 points). They do have a 6-(foot)-4 (player), but she’s 6’4. But Jewel Brewington does a lot for them, but she’s a little smaller. She’s more like Morgan’s size, so that’ll be a challenge for Morgan now. But we’ll see, you never know. Upsets happen. Injuries happen. But yeah, we just keep moving forward. Keep winning.”