MADISON TOWNSHIP — The way Lexington was shooting and missing free throws, it would be a tough sell to convince someone the Minutemen would beat Madison at the line on Thursday.
But after hitting just 8 of 22 from the stripe the first three quarters, Lexington nailed 9 of 10 in the final 3:35 to snap a tie game and earn a 52-44 Ohio Cardinal Conference victory.
“That was key,” Lexington co-coach Connie Doutt said. “We have kind of struggled at the line all year, but I thought we were getting better. The last three or four games is the best we have shot all year.
“I think they lost a little confidence and we just kept telling them it’s gonna go, it’s gonna go and eventually it did. All our kids have really good form at the line. When we hit our stride at the line, I knew we were all right.”
Three different Minutemen went to the line during the stretch. Junior Emilee Parker started by going four-for-four to build a 43-39 Lexington lead with 3:14 left. After sophomore guard Gabby Stover’s bucket made it 45-39 with 2:37 remaining, senior Julia Kocher added a pair of free throws to build the lead to eight.
Senior guard Olivia Kearns finished the night by sinking three of four from the stripe in the final 39 seconds.
The win, Lexington’s second of the year over Madison, improved the Minutemen to 11-3 overall and 6-2 in the OCC. Madison, again playing without injured leading scorer Brooklynn Arnold, slipped to 6-8 overall, 2-7 in the league.
FAST START: Lexington jumped out to a 12-2 lead at the start, but the Rams quickly battled back and trailed just 14-11 after one and 22-21 at halftime in a game that saw eight ties and six lead changes.
“I think (at the start), we were looking for each other and running our sets,” Doutt said. “We kind of got out of our flow in the second quarter, maybe played a little too much one-on-one. Once we started working together in the fourth quarter, we got back into what we needed to do.”
Madison coach Rodger Davis said speeding the game up helped his team after the slow start as the Rams outscored Lexington 19-10 during the remainder of the half.
“We turned up the pressure,” he said. “We got a couple of subs in there, went with a little more fullcourt action and got after it pretty good. Lexington has some good guards. We wanted to press them and create some opportunities to speed up the game.”
That pressure also created foul problems for the Rams, who sent Lexington to the line 34 times in the game, compared to just 17 for the Rams.
“That (free throw imbalance) definitely makes a difference,” Rodgers said.
BALANCED SCORING: Parker finished with 12 points for Lexington, the only Minutemen player in double figures. But Stover and Kearns each had nine and Kocher and freshman Avery Coleman had eight.
“One thing that is going to work for us is balance,” Doutt said. “The kids are unselfish. They look for each other. We just don’t have that one kid who is gonna score 20 points a game. If we keep getting that balance game in and game out, we will be hard to stop.”
Freshman Chesney Davis came off the bench to lead Madison with 14. Senior Leah Boggs added 13 and junior Rebecca Phelps added 10.
“Chesney is doing well. She is a freshman, so she is going to be up and down. She works hard. She found a pretty good rhythm early,” Davis said.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Lexington shot 41 percent from the field (17-41) and added 18 of 34 at the line. Madison shot 28 percent from the field, but took 17 more shots than Lex, connecting on 16 of 58. The Rams were eight of 17 from the line.
“The shots definitely were not falling,” Davis said. “But to get 58 shots, the girls are crashing the boards and working hard. I thought we took a lot of good shots. They just were not falling.”
Lexington had a 41-36 rebounding edge, led by seven each from Kearns, Stover and sophomore Natalie Beer. Senior Mackenzie Mullins led Madison with 10 and Phelps had eight.
Lexington committed 16 turnovers, compared to 13 for Madison.
UP NEXT: Lexington hosts Ashland on Saturday afternoon in another OCC game, hoping to avenge an earlier-season loss on the Arrows home floor. Madison plays at Clear Fork on Tuesday in a non-league game.
