By By Austin Bishop/The Meridian Star
Dec. 20, 2000
Having a lead late in the fourth quarter is not that uncommon for the Lamar High School girls basketball team. Holding onto it has been.
That wasn't the case on Tuesday night as the Lady Raiders built up a 15-point fourth quarter lead on the way to a 35-27 Division 3-AAA win over visiting Manchester Academy.
The win pushed Lamar to 2-12 overall, but more importantly 1-1 in division play.
The injury and sickness-plagued Lamar boys trailed 31-14 at the half and never could really get on track as the visiting Mavericks rolled to a 66-33 win.
The Lamar girls led just 15-13 at the half, but Melissa Pennington opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and Summer Ritchie added a basket inside to put LHS up 20-13. From that point the Lady Raiders really controlled the game.
Lamar led 27-18 at the end of the third quarter, before Manchester cut it to 27-20 on a three-pointer by Ashleigh King. From that point LHS reeled off the next eight points, including a pair of baskets by Ritchie to go up 35-20.
LHS was playing without starting post and leading scorer Libby Huff, but Ritchie picked up some of the slack by leading the team with 10 points.
Lamar also got some nice transition baskets after picking up some steals around mid-court. Pennington scored nine points for the winners, while April Rogers scored seven.
Emily Edgar led Manchester with nine points, while King added eight.
Manchester Boys 66, Lamar 33: The Mavericks showed why they are the favorites to win the league, by challenging nearly every Lamar shot and banging the offensive boards.
Lamar never led in the game and the last time the contest was tied was at 2-2.
Manchester was up 12-6 after one quarter of play, before outscoring the Raiders 19-8 in the second quarter. MA led 49-24 after three quarters of play.
Mikey Monaghan led four Mavericks in double figures with 13 points, while Bubba Goodman and John Crisler scored 12 each. Brett Cerda added 10.
Jared McKee led Lamar with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Dusty Jones scored seven points. The Lamar boys fall to 5-9 overall and 1-1 in league play with the loss.
The Lamar boys and girls return to action after Christmas in the East Central Community College Tournament.