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LYNCHBURG — Early and often, Lynchburg-Clay was throwing haymakers on Saturday.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
The Mustangs got out to a double-digit lead early and never looked back, earning a decisive 67-35 victory over Piketon in a Division III sectional final.
“We’ve been off for two weeks, so I was a little worried about how we’d come out after such a long gap between games. But we came out ready to play,” Lynchburg-Clay coach Whitney Lewis said. “The girls were just anxious to finally get on the floor and we’ve been preparing for two weeks. We shot the ball really well and played really good defense that we turned into offense on the other end.”
The victory marks the first sectional championship for the Mustangs since 2019.
“This is a little extra special because we got to do it on our home floor, which is the first time since the format was changed a few years ago,” Lewis said. “Our seniors haven’t won a sectional before so giving them that chance to cut the nets down, add a number to the banner and not let anyone else celebrate on our floor really means something.”
Lynchburg-Clay (15-8) controlled the tempo from the very beginning, keeping a rapid-fast pace and outrunning Piketon (14-9) in transition. However, the Mustangs relied on the deep ball to get going and Macy Etienne wasn’t shy about launching it.
She buried a pair of 3’s while Jade Massey connected on a triple as well to put the Mustangs ahead 13-7. Etienne later connected on her third trey of the first quarter, beating the buzzer for a 17-7 lead.
“Hitting those first couple shots did a lot for us mentally and really put the pressure on Piketon’s defense,” Lewis said. “We have players who can shoot the ball really well, but if you come up on the perimeter, we can get by you and get to the basket. It’s kind of a pick your poison with us, and we really found a good flow early by hitting four 3’s in the first that opened everything up.”
After a slow start from the floor, Addison West began to find her groove in the second.
With the Mustangs ahead 23-7, she rattled off 10 straight points to help extend the advantage to 20 points before they shifted into cruise control throughout the rest of the way.
West finished with 20 points and seven rebounds, followed by 20 from Etienne. Jade Massey added 10 points, six assists and five rebounds.
For Piketon, Jazz Lamerson finished with 14 points while Kennedy Jenkins had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Lynchburg-Clay returns to action in a Division III district semifinal at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday at Jackson High School. The Mustangs will meet with a familiar foe in top-seeded North Adams, who’s still unbeaten.
The Green Devils own a pair of victories over the Mustangs. But both games took place in December and the Mustangs have all the confidence they can pull the upset.
“Those two regular season games don’t mean anything anymore, and we’re going to attack this game just like any other,” Lewis said. “It’s win or go home, and we know North Adams is a really good team. But we’re not ready to be done playing basketball so we’re going to give it everything we’ve got and see what happens.”
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