ASHLAND — The Arrows turned up the heat Thursday night and short-handed Lady Lex wilted.
Ashland scored 24 points off 24 Lexington turnovers and rallied for a 57-53 win in Ohio Cardinal Conference action at Arrow Arena.
Lexington (6-2, 3-1) played without senior guard Abigail Adams, who injured her knee in Tuesday’s win over Madison. Adams will have surgery in January and is lost for the season. Shelby Miller, another Lady Lex senior, learned this week she will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.
“It’s been tough for us. We lost two seniors and they could have given us quality minutes,” Lexington coach Connie Doutt said. “We had 24 turnovers and (24) points off turnovers. We look at the stats and we beat them in every category with the exception of that.”
Ashland (5-4, 2-1) trailed 28-18 midway through the second quarter but closed the half on a 13-6 run and trailed 34-31 at intermission. What’s more, the Arrows made their run with leading scorer Kylie Radebaugh sitting on the bench.
“Alicia Van Horn came in … and gave us a little spark,” Ashland coach Jason Snow said. “We took Kylie out for a two-minute stretch there and … we cut the lead down with one of our better players on the bench.
“There were a lot of people who had small roles, but their two or three plays made the difference for us.”
The Arrows took a 35-34 lead — their first of the evening — on an Alyssa Steury layup with 4:18 remaining in the third quarter. Steury would score six straight points and a Kourtney Burke 3-pointer just before the third-quarter horn gave Ashland a 42-40 advantage going to the fourth.
Lady Lex briefly reclaimed the lead early in the fourth on a Gabby Stover trey, but Steury and Radebaugh scored eight straight points for the Arrows. Ashland’s terrific backcourt tandem combined for 41 points.
“Those guards are totally awesome,” Doutt said. “We’re going to have to find a different defensive scheme when we play them again. Hopefully, we will contain them a little bit better.”
Radebaugh led Ashland with 24 points Steury added 17, while Kourtney Burke added nine.
Avery Coleman led Lady Lex with 16 points. Stover added 11 points, while Courtney Thompson came off the bench to score eight points. Olivia Kearns had seven points and 11 assists.
“I saw some bright spots for us,” Doutt said. “Some young kids picked it up.”
