Buzzer-beater swipes win from Lady Raiders

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ROCKINGHAM — Facing an undefeated conference opponent Tuesday, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ basketball team lost in the final seconds.

Back on their home court for the first time since Dec. 13, the Lady Raiders were one basket away from taking sole possession of first place in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings.

Dropping their second game in a row, the Lady Raiders were defeated by Union Pines High School 53-52 at the buzzer.

Despite having a 10-point lead with 3:31 to play in regulation, Richmond was outscored 16-5 in the closing minutes.

Following a missed free throw attempt with 7.8 seconds to go with a 52-50 lead, Richmond couldn’t stop a rush down the floor by the Lady Vikings (14-0, 3-0 SAC). Taryn Pekala made the game-winning three-pointer from the right corner.

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“It wasn’t just the missed free throw that cost us the game, it was a lot of little things,” head coach Taneika Reader said. “We lost our man in transition and turnovers hurt us badly tonight. And at the end, I always tell the kids how important free throws and layups are. 

“We’re normally pretty consistent, but after we missed it, we kind of froze and the ball went up the court,” she continued. “It was helter skelter and (Pekala) made a good shot. But that’s what happens when we let teams linger around.”

Senior point guard Jamyia Lindsey finished the game with a team-high 22 points. Leading all scorers was Union Pines’ Ashanti Fox, who had 27 points.

Richmond’s other scorers were junior Olivia Brown (9 points), junior J’Nasia Neal and sophomore Madisen Jackson (8 points each) and junior Jasiah Gilchrist (5 points).

An early deficit in the first quarter wasn’t a problem for Richmond, which scored seven straight points to take a 9-7 lead. Lindsey opened the scoring with a pair of free throws before adding a floater in the paint as part of the run. 

Brown connected on the first of her two first-half three-pointers from the left wing. Adding a basket underneath was Jackson. 

Leading by four points, Richmond allowed a basket to cut its lead to two points entering the second. 

The three-pointer helped the Lady Raiders hold a lead for much of the second quarter before Union Pines closed on a 6-0 run. Both teams went into the intermission tied 23-23. 

Twelve of Richmond’s 14 points before the half were the result of a three-ball. Neal hit two from the right corner, which were sandwiched around Brown’s triple from the same spot. 

Lindsey hit a step-back three-pointer from the top of the arc inside the final three minutes of the half. Gilchrist netted her two first-half points with a drive through the lane to put Richmond’s lead up to 23-17, its largest lead of the half. 

Union Pines made a three-pointer and then three free throws by Fox, who led all scorers with 13 points in the half, in the closing 1:10.

The Lady Raiders dominated the third-quarter scoring, opening the game up to a 40-33 lead entering the fourth. Lindsey started the scoring with a transition bucket, and later followed with a three-pointer from the middle and a mid-range jumper for seven more points.

A bucket by Gilchrist under the hoop started an 8-4 run in the remaining 3:05 of the third by Richmond. Lindsey, Neal and Jackson each had a bucket in that span, the last of which was a putback off the glass by Jackson at the buzzer.

Jackson and Lindsey combined for the first seven points for Richmond to begin the final stanza, building a 47-37 lead with 3:31 to go. But a shift by the Lady Vikings gave them a 50-49 lead with 31.8 seconds to play.

Lindsey made back-to-back free throws to give the Lady Raiders a 51-50 lead and added another shot from the line with 7.8 seconds on the clock after being fouled following an inbound pass.

A missed free throw attempt on Lindsey’s second shot led to the game-winning sequence for Pekala and Union Pines.

“Union Pines will be a force in the conference and (Fox) is a good addition to that team,” Reader said. “I think it’ll be a three-team race between us, Union Pines and Scotland. 

“If we learn how to finish and close out games, I think we’ll be on the winning side. The Fairmont and Marvin Ridge games, we had leads, we just didn’t finish and that’s something we’ll work on.”

The Lady Raiders (9-5, 3-1 SAC) have off until Friday when they travel to Lee County High School (6-6, 1-2 SAC). Tentatively set for 6 p.m., the game schedule may be changed due to possible inclement weather.

The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Tuesday’s home game soon.

basketball, buzzer-beater, jnasia-neal, jamyia-lindsey, jasiah-gilchrist, lady-raiders, madisen-jackson, olivia-brown, richmond, union-pines