RALEIGH — A three-pointer late in the second quarter of Friday’s playoff game appeared to give the Richmond Senior High School girls’ basketball team the spark it needed.
Making the fourth round of the NCHSAA 4A East playoffs for the second straight season, the Lady Raiders took a second-half lead but couldn’t hold on to advance.
Playing on the road for the first time this postseason, No. 3 Richmond saw its season come to an end in a 46-40 loss to No. 2 Wakefield High School.
That three-pointer came with 2:33 to go in the second quarter, which sparked a 12-4 run to pull Richmond within two points, 25-23, at halftime.
Senior Jamyia Lindsey, who has served as Richmond’s floor general the past four seasons, scored a game-high 18 points in the final game of her career.
Also scoring for Richmond were sophomore Madisen Jackson (9 points), junior Olivia Brown (6 points), junior J’Nasia Neal (5 points) and junior Jasiah Gilchrist (2 points).
The return run to the Elite 8 occurred while the team was under the direction of first-year head coach Taneika Reader, who expressed her gratitude following the loss.
“I’m super proud of my girls,” Reader said. “I asked for all they had for 32 minutes and they emptied their tanks for me. From the players on the court to the players on the bench, everyone gave it their all tonight. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
“Even though we came up short of our ultimate goal of winning a state championship, and even in defeat, I’m super proud to be their coach.”
The low-scoring, defensive battle started with Wakefield (25-3) taking an 11-9 lead. Lindsey had seven of those points for Richmond on five free throws and a bucket. Gilchrist scored her two points on a basket.
Both teams scored 14 points in the second quarter. Richmond was led by Brown, who connected on a pair of three-pointers for all six of her points. Jackson got on the board with a triple, Lindsey made three free throws and Neal made a field goal.
Trailing by two points to start the third quarter, Richmond tied it 29-29 with 5:32 to play before taking a 34-29 lead. Wakefield battled back to knot the score at 35-35 before a free throw gave Richmond a one-point lead heading into the final quarter.
Lindsey had six of those third-quarter points on a basket and four free throws. Two buckets by Jackson brought her total to seven points, and Neal made a basket and a foul shot to put the Lady Raiders ahead by a point.
Richmond’s final lead of the game was 40-38 with 3:30 left in regulation. Trying to slow down the tempo, Richmond committed a couple of turnovers and fouls down the stretch that sent the Lady Wolverines to the line.
Wakefield closed the game on an 11-4 run, connecting on 7-of-14 shots from the line. Richmond’s four points were courtesy of a Jackson field goal and two free throws from Lindsey.
The Lady Raiders’ season came to an end with a 22-6 overall record in Reader’s first season as head coach.
Richmond went 11-1 in the Sandhills Athletic Conference and earned a share of the conference title with Union Pines High School. The team’s longest winning streak of the season was 13 games, which ended with Tuesday’s loss.
Lindsey was the team’s leading scorer, finishing with an average of 23.5 points per game. Her final season saw her surpass 2,000 career points and she was named the SAC’s Co-Player of the Year alongside Ashanti Fox (Union Pines).
Three other Lady Raiders made the All-SAC team this season — Gilchrist, Jackson and junior Ella Parker (sportsmanship award).
Sports editor’s note: Deon Cranford, Kisha Murray and Taneika Reader contributed statistics and information to this article.
