LEXINGTON — Clutch free throws down the stretch made the difference Thursday night for Lexington in its win at Madison.
A cold stretch from the line at the start of the third quarter, and a chilly shooting Saturday afternoon in general, made the same difference in a 50-45 loss to Ashland in an Ohio Cardinal Conference girls basketball game.
The Minutemen trailed just 22-21 at halftime and had the chance to take and build on a lead early with eight foul shots in the first two minutes of the third quarter.
Instead, Lex missed the first four and hit just two of the next four, allowing Ashland to keep the game tied.
For the game, Lexington was just eight of 19 from the line (42 percent) while Ashland was 15 of 22 (68 percent).
“We needed to hit some of those free throws, especially in the third quarter,” Lexington co-coach Heidi Roush said. “It would have been huge just to keep that momentum.”
The loss dropped Lexington to 11-4 overall and 6-3 in the OCC. Ashland, which also defeated Lexington earlier this season at home, improved to 9-8 overall and 5-3 in the league.
RADEBAUGH AGAIN: Ashland senior guard Kylie Radebaugh, who scored 24 points in the first win over Lexington, struck again Saturday with 24 more. Radebaugh, who recently eclipsed 1,000 points in her career, nailed four of six triples and also collected six rebounds.
“She is our go-to player,” Ashland coach Jason Snow said. “She broke the school record for threes. We rely on her a lot. We’re just like (Lexington). We’re banged up, missing three kids. We are playing with seven (players) for the most part, but the kids hung in there and found a way to win.”
Radebaugh nailed a triple with 2:11 left in the third quarter to erase a two-point Lexington lead and scored three more with 1:42 left in the period to give Ashland a 33-29 edge.
Radebaugh then scored Ashland’s first five points of the fourth quarter to keep the Arrows in the lead. She hit three of six FTs down the stretch before junior guard Alyssa Steury (10 points, seven rebounds) closed it out with four straight FTs in the final 31 seconds.
“Those are just two very solid guards,” Roush said. “They don’t make a lot of errors and they shoot lights out.”
Snow was pleased with both of his guards.
“Alyssa is a very good free throw shooter. We want to get the ball in her hands or Kylie’s. (Steury) runs our offense. She took an elbow shot the last game and found a way to battle through. (Lexington) is a big and physical team and that’s a weakness for us. We are not very big inside. But our girls found a way to win.”
PLEASING EFFORT: Roush said she was proud of her team’s effort, especially since post Avery Coleman showed up Saturday unable to play after injuring her knee in practice Friday. Coleman had 16 points the first time the teams met.
“They had an outstanding effort,” Roush said. “I was really proud of the way the girls played from the tip to the final buzzer.
Sophomore guard Gabby Stover had 17 points in the loss, the only Lexington player in double figures. Julia Kocher added nine.
The Minutemen connected of just three of 20 triples, compared to seven of nine for Ashland.
“We found ourselves open a lot,” Roush said. “We were hitting from the outside early. Typically, when we start hitting from the outside, the girls continue to do that.
“We didn’t do a great job of getting it in … I would have liked to see it go inside more, but (Ashland) did a nice job of forcing it outside.”
Stover also had four rebounds and committed just one turnover.
“It’s easy to forget she is just a sophomore,” Roush said. “We expect a lot of her. She did a fantastic job. Not just scoring, she took care of business in every way. She spread the ball around and played a great all-around game.”
easy to forget she is only a soph. we expect a lot out of her. did fantastic job not just scoring. taking care of bus every. spread the ball around everywhere. great all-around game. she was focused and did really good job
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Ashland shot 38 percent from the field, hitting just seven of 28 two-point FG tries. Lexington connected on 33 percent from the floor, including 14 of 32 conventional attempts.
Lexington had a 35-34 rebounding edge. Kocher led Lexington with 11. Steury led Ashland with seven.
Ashland committed 21 turnovers, compared to 15 for Lexington.
UP NEXT: Lexington plays at West Holmes on Thursday in another OCC game. Ashland hosts Cloverleaf on Monday in a non-league game.
