WALES — A couple of lapses on offense didn’t throw Mt. Abram off its game.
The Roadrunners simply shrugged of those hiccups, demonstrated their composure down the stretch and sidestepped pesky Oak Hill in a 36-32 victory in a girls’ basketball game Saturday afternoon.
The Raiders had a tough time with their shooting in the first half. The Roadrunners nailed down a 17-10 lead at halftime, but Oak Hill’s offense generated some serious points in the third quarter. The Raiders found themselves with a 24-22 lead heading into the final stanza.
But Mt Abram coach Larry Donald said that’s when his Roadrunners (6-5) found their hearts and made things happen in a ferocious last quarter.
“We needed this. We are actually in the playoff hunt right now,” Donald said. “They played with a lot of heart. Last night, we lost to Mountain Valley by six, which would have been big. The girls were down by 15 and came back.”
Everything was going Mt. Abram’s way on offense for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Oak Hill’s shots were near misses and the Raiders didn’t score a basket for the first five minutes, but the Roadrunners had no problems make numerous deposits at the net.
The Raiders started to pull away and built a 32-24 lead with 2:03 left in the game. During that 10-point run, Alora Ross, Summer Ross and Shania Campbell each scored two points. Junior forward Megan Sorel contributed four points.
“Today, I told them to bring the same game and they played good today,” Donald said. “They found their heart. I told them a couple of games ago…I said we need to find a heart and they dug down and found it and we played well.”
But two minutes was just enough time for the Raiders to get back into it.
Desirae Dumais gave the Raiders hope when she hit a pair of foul shots with about two minutes left in the game. Dumais threw in a 3-pointer 22 seconds later and cut Mt. Abram’s lead to just three points with 1:38 remaining.
Sorel stepped up again, drove underneath and came with two points to give the Roadrunners a 34-29 lead with a minute left.
Time was still on the Raiders’ side when Brianna Mulherin knocked down a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left, moving Oak Hill to within two points of Mt. Abram. But the Roadrunners dropped in two foul shots to seal the victory.
Mt. Abram junior guard Lindsay Huff was the game’s leading scorer with 12 points and Sorel dropped in nine. For Oak Hill, Brianna Mulherin scored 11 points followed by Dumais, who had eight.
“We did a lot of great things through the entire game — just the first half especially, I mean how many easy looks did we not make,” Oak Hill coach Mike LaBonte said. “There was a cover on the rim for the first half for sure.
“We have been in a little bit of a slump shooting. You are constantly trying to keep them to keep taking the good shots and picture it going in. Mt. Abram is scrappy so we knew it was going to be a scrappy game.”
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