FAYETTEVILLE — The Richmond Senior High School varsity girls’ basketball season saw its postseason hopes dashed and its season come to an end Tuesday.
On the road at No. 4 Jack Britt High School in the opening round of the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament, the No. 5 Lady Raiders saw a first-half lead slip away, resulting in a 59-43 loss.
The matchup marked the third time the two teams met during the season, and served as the rubber match between the Lady Raiders and Lady Buccaneers. Entering the night, the Lady Raiders were on the outside looking in of the 4A state playoffs, and a run through the tournament could have meant a possible seed.
But a strong second half by the Lady Buccaneers halted those chances.
“We talked tonight about coming out fast and not getting down early, and we did that,” first-year head coach Teddy Moseley said. “I thought we came out great and followed the game plan that we had. Our defensive game plan worked to a T until No. 14 (Amber Nealy) got hot in the second half.
“There were a couple of times in the first quarter where we missed wide-open layups,” he added. “In games like this, we have to hit those. The only thing that does is give us confidence to push our lead out more. We have to get better at shooting.”
Richmond (10-14) started the game on an 8-4 run that saw sophomore Jakerra Covington net four of her eight total points. The Lady Raiders held the lead for the majority of the first eight minutes before Jack Britt closed the final 2:13 on a 6-0 run to take a 13-9 lead.
Moseley’s offense kept its upbeat tempo going in the second stanza, outscoring the Lady Bucs 14-11. Five different Richmond players scored in the quarter, with sophomore Jayla McDougald leading with five points.
Her, along with junior teammates Layne Maultsby and Hailey Miller and senior Taliah Wall, closed the final two minutes of the first half on an 8-2 spurt that made it a one-point game, 24-23, at the break. Wall started it with a made free throw, followed by a Miller triple and field goals by Maultsby and McDougald.
Out of the break, Richmond retook the lead temporarily, 25-24, thanks to a basket by Wall in the paint. That basket started a succession of four lead changes on the next four possessions by either team.
Nealy got hot in the third quarter, scoring nine of her game-high 17 points. She splashed home two three-pointers in the process, as Jack Britt climbed out to an 11-point lead, 43-32.
Maultsby opened the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run by herself, hitting a long jumper before draining a triple on the next possession from nearly the same spot on the floor. Richmond continued to chip away at the lead, but Jack Britt (16-8) had an answer every time to keep the Lady Raiders at bay.
Down the stretch, Moseley noted, missed free throws haunted his team. The Lady Raiders went 10-for-27 (37 percent) from the line, while shooting 14-for-58 (24.1 percent) from the field.
McDougald finished as the leading scorer for the visiting team with 10 points, as Covington and Wall each added eight points. Maultsby finished her season with a seven-point performance.
Adding to Nealy’s 17 points were Nariyah Nixon and Skyler Reilly, both of whom finished with seven points.
“This team is a great group of young ladies,” Moseley closed. “I think having an offseason with them will help out a lot. We get a lot of good opportunities, but we just have to learn how to win. That’s what I want to teach them. We’ll get better.”
ROSports will publish a Lady Raider basketball season recap in the following week.
