AHS rallies in final minutes to defeat PC

LOW MOOR – Patrick County came to Low Moor last Thursday with a losing record and gave Alleghany all they could handle until the final buzzer hit as the Cougars rallied and escaped with a narrow 40-38 Three Rivers District victory.

 

The PC Cougars controlled the tempo early on in the first quarter and kept the pace going throughout.

 

By the end of the first quarter Patrick County had built their biggest lead of the game at eight points. The PC Cougars wound up going into the second half with a 23-17 lead despite being held scoreless in the first three minutes of the period.

 

Alleghany who had not lost at home since December 17th to Buffalo Gap flipped the script in the third quarter where they outscored Patrick County 12-5 and took a 29-28 lead into the fourth.

 

But it still seemed as if this was the PC Cougars game pace.

 

Patrick County regained the lead early on in the final quarter and set the pace until the closing minutes where Alleghany would rally.

 

Up 36-34 with under two minutes left Patrick County missed a pair of opportunities to extend the lead. 

 

This would come back to haunt them as senior Bryce Leitch made a move to get herself open and connected on the games biggest field goal as she put Alleghany up 37-36 with a 3-pointer with over a minute remaining.

 

Moments later after another miss from Patrick County, the PC Cougars blocked a field goal attempt by Alleghany, but Ja’Kara Heighter with a big heads up play grabbed the loose ball and put it back up and through the hoop to give the AHS Cougars a 39-36 lead with 45 seconds to go.

 

After a pair of missed free throws by Alleghany, Patrick County got two points back with under 10 seconds left and cut the deficit down to one point.

 

Heighter would draw a foul and made 1-of-2 free throw attempts to put the AHS Cougars back up two points.

 

Looking to tie or win the game Patrick County never got a chance to get a shot off. On a perfectly executed in bounds and half court set pass to open the lane up, the PC Cougars pass into the foul line was off the mark and went out of bounds with two-tenths of a second left.

 

Leitch scored a game-high 19 points for Alleghany, while Kelsey Nicely scored nine and brought down a game-high 12 rebounds, and Heighter added seven points.

 

Lilly Hazelwood had a team-high 14 points for Patrick County who fell to 10-12 overall following the loss. Kimora Wimbush added 11.

 

The AHS Cougars won despite only making 11 field goals, while the PC Cougars made 15. AHS did have a 14-6 advantage on made free throws.

 

Alleghany (14-6, 9-1) suffered their first district loss of the season the following night on Friday against James River. Leitch scored a team-high 19, while Caitlin Canada had a game-high 23 for the Knights who rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit. The Cougars host Radford on Monday.