No. 2 Mountain Ridge overcomes early deficit to beat No. 3 Southern 51-48

Feb. 28—FROSTBURG — No. 2 seed Mountain Ridge overcame an 11-point first-quarter deficit to win an instant classic, defeating No. 3 seed Southern, 51-48, in the Maryland Class 1A Region I semifinals on Monday night.

The Miners (17-6) improved to 17-0 when scoring at least 40 points.

"You guys kinda tipped us off in the paper, 16-0 when we score over 40," Mountain Ridge head coach Rob Duncan said. "I was quite nervous when we went over that threshold because it was still awfully tight. When we score points, our defense will take us home."

The Rams (14-9) kept it close in the final minutes, but were unable to hit some key shots.

"It was a tough loss for us," Southern head coach Ashley Fadley said. "Mountain Ridge was very prepared and they played a really good game."

Southern led 6-2 early in the first quarter before Mountain Ridge cut it to 11-6. The Rams ended the quarter on a 6-2 run and led 17-8 after one quarter.

Carly Wilt led Southern with 10 points in the first quarter by hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

"We spent a ton of time on shooting these past eight days," Fadley said. "She came out and she started making her shots early."

Early in the second quarter, Maggie Nickel hit a 3-pointer to extend Southern's lead to 11, their biggest lead of the game.

The story of the second quarter was the Miners' ability to score off put backs. At one point, Mountain Ridge scored three straight.

"In a game like this, it's gonna come down to those extra possessions," Duncan said. "In the first two games against Southern, we didn't get many of those extra possessions. Tonight, we found some of that offense. We found it on the offensive boards, we found it in transition."

The third put back by Bayleigh Lamberson cut Mountain Ridge's deficit to 23-19 with 3:18 left in the first half. Southern led 27-23 at halftime.

After not committing a turnover in the first quarter, the Rams had six in the second. The Miners had seven in the first half with three in the second quarter.

"We had some girls in foul trouble, so we couldn't get the rotation of subs in," Fadley said. "I think our girls were tired."

The scoring slowed down for both sides to open the second half. Down 33-29 with 3:56 left, the Miners went on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 35.

Sydney Snyder had a huge second half on both ends. In the third quarter, she scored 11 points with three 3-pointers. She hit a deep 3 in the final seconds of the quarter to cut Mountain Ridge's deficit to 41-40.

"She has been our undisputed leader the whole season," Duncan said. "Southern had a great game plan bottling her up in the first two games. When she saw that first 3 go down, you saw her shoulders go down. She kinda relaxed a bit and she turned it on from there."

Early in the fourth quarter, Snyder hit a pair of free throws to give the Miners a 42-41 lead, their first of the game, with 6:55 left.

Mountain Ridge held Southern scoreless until the 3:25 mark when Wilt made a pair of free throws.

"Basketball's a game of runs," Fadley said. "You expect us to go on a run and to go up a little bit. We fully expected they would go on a run, too, and come back. I don't know why that happened other than Sydney Snyder took the game into her own hands."

Up 44-41 with 5:37 left, Lamberson hit arguably the shot of the game. With two seconds on the shot clock, the Miners had to inbound. Snyder found Lamberson, who backed up and put up a 3-pointer that went in at the buzzer.

"Anytime in a tight game — in a playoff game, it comes down to one fluky play," Duncan said. "That's her second 3-pointer of the season. That was huge, sometimes it turns the tide."

The Rams only made one field goal in the fourth quarter, but kept themselves in the game at the free-throw line, making 5 of 6 at the line in the quarter and 14 for 17 in the game.

"I thought we shot free throws really well this game," Fadley said. "Last game against Mountain Ridge, we didn't shoot really well. It kinda got us back in the game to a point where we made it close at the end."

Wilt made a pair of free throws to cut the Rams' deficit to 48-46. A few minutes later, the Miners led 51-48 with a minute left. Each team missed some shots including two missed free throws by Southern.

With 10 seconds left, the Rams had the ball with a chance to force overtime. Off an inbound, Rhegan Lamberson deflected a pass and Snyder came up with a steal to seal the victory.

"Two weeks ago, we're sitting at Southern and we're up 29-28," Duncan said. "Exact same situation, they have the ball at the end of the game. We did not follow the game plan and what we discussed in the timeout. They executed and we fell apart on defense. In that last timeout, we discussed the fact that we were not gonna let that happen again."

Snyder led all scorers with 26 points. She also had three assists and two steals. Reghan Sivic scored 12 points while Bayleigh Lamberson had nine.

"I was so happy to see her confidence return," Duncan said of Snyder. "Once that first three fell in the third quarter, a light switched on for her. She was letting it fly from there. I've been on her, it doesn't matter if you miss 10 in a row, the next one's going down. She's gotta have that scorer's mentality, tonight she had it."

Wilt led Southern with 16 points while Emelee Parks had 11. Nickel scored 10 with five assists and a steal.

"They're both great players," Fadley said of Wilt and Parks. "Carly is a sophomore, Emelee's a freshman. They've had a great season. I'm looking forward to what they can do the next few years."

The Miners host fifth seeded Fort Hill on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for the Class 1A West Region I championship. The 10-10 Sentinels upset No. 1 seed Allegany (17-5) on Monday in a 55-52 road win.

"We are very excited to advance," Duncan said. "The fact we get to play that game at Mountain Ridge, we are looking forward to a great environment here. The whole community coming out to support us, we are very excited about the opportunity."

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.