No. 1 Lady Scots roll past No. 5 Lee County in SAC semifinals

Brandon Hodge, The Laurinburg Exchange, N.C.
·5 min read

Feb. 16—LAURINBURG — On their quest to claim both the Sandhills Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles for the first time since 2013, the No. 1 Lady Scots basketball team (18-7, 12-0 Sandhills Athletic Conference) took care of business on their home floor, defeating the No. 5 Lee County Yellow Jackets (14-9, 6-7 SAC) in the SAC tournament semifinals 51-36 and landing a spot in the title game, where they'll host the No. 2 Pinecrest Patriots.

With the Lady Scots winning their 12th game in a row, head coach Roshien McClain discussed how his team was able to continue that streak Thursday night.

"We had certain people step up tonight," McClain said. "Kayla Simmons stepped up, Asiah (McInnis) stepped up, (and) Nyasia (McQueen) stepped up tonight. You know, Alicia (McClain) was in foul trouble with three fouls in the first half, so they stepped up and played real good tonight. We just played a nice, safe game."

Simmons was inserted into the starting five for McQueen against Lee County, despite a size differential between both teams that favored the Yellow Jackets.

Roshien McClain talked about the decision and why he thought it actually favored his team.

"I went smaller just to throw them (Lee County) off a little bit," Roshien McClain said. "I knew they were gonna try to get inside, which is fine, but it slowed them down in the first quarter. It was kind of strategic on my part to see how they'd (Lee County) react. A lot of times, they were just out there holding it...and that's good, that's what we wanted. It kind of worked in our favor; made them shoot long shots, get the rebound, now we go down and run our offense."

A Morgan Thompson layup and a free throw by Simmons put the Lady Scots ahead 3-0 early in the first quarter. It wasn't until the 5:33 mark of the period that Lee County got on the board with a free throw from Kelyce McSwain. McSwain would score three more points in the quarter, but back-to-back layups by Madison Dixon and Madysan Hammonds, along with two more free throw makes by Simmons, pushed the Lady Scots' lead to 9-4. With just over 10 seconds remaining though, Thompson was fouled on an "and-one" make and would seemingly head to the free-throw line for one shot attempt. After Thompson missed the attempt, she grabbed the rebound and put the shot back in, but an official had ruled two shot attempts at the line by mistake, which waived off the additional layup. Heading into the second quarter, the Lady Scots still led 11-4, however.

In the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets managed to cut the Lady Scots lead to 13-9 off a 3-pointer from Gillian Garrison, but, after a free throw by McQueen, an Alicia McClain 3-ball would put the Lady Scots back up 17-9. With under a minute left before the half and the Lady Scots leading 19-11, McInnis would find the net on a 2-point shot and Hammonds would drill a 3, before Lee County's Alicia Hancock hit a jumper. At the half, the Lady Scots' lead was 24-13.

Thompson was able to tie the largest lead of the game for the Lady Scots to open the third quarter, however, four-straight points by the Yellow Jackets would put the Lady Scots' lead back into single digits at 26-17. After Thompson hit another layup, Alicia McClain, Thompson, and Simmons all hit shots from range to bolster the lead to 37-20. Four-straight points to end the frame from Lee County made it 37-24 going into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Scots were able to grow their lead to 41-24 in the beginning moments of the fourth, but a 3 laced by Lee County's Kaleah Cotton and a layup from Lily Currin made it a 41-29 game. A technical foul called on Garrison soon after though, would kick-start a seven-point spurt by Alicia McClain. After hitting 1-of-2 free throw attempts off the tech, Alicia McClain would hit a trio of layups to put the Lady Scots up 48-29. From there, the Yellow Jackets would score six-straight points, but McQueen would close the game with a layup and a free throw.

Leading the charge for the Lady Scots was Thompson with 16 points. Alicia McClain followed behind with 10 and McQueen added 9. Simmons scored a career-high six points, as well.

Nya South had nine points to lead the Yellow Jackets.

With the Lady Scots hosting the Patriots Friday night at 6 p.m., it will be the third time the two have met this season, with the Lady Scots taking the two previous games, but only winning by a combined 10 points.

Roshien McClain knows adjustments will be prevalent in order to win the conference tournament championship.

"I think one of the biggest things we need to do differently is...put in some more man plays and some more movement against them (Pinecrest)," he said. "I know they're well-coached. You know, it's always hard to beat somebody three times, especially when they're pretty good. I think the second time we played, (Jakaya) Scott had about 25 (points). We shut down (Zanodiya McNair) and (Jasiah Gilchrist), so, with us, we're gonna have to make sure to contain certain people. All three of them can't get 15 (points each); it's a long battle for us. But, if we can contain...them, I think we'll be alright.