The Shadow
“The effort was there, we just couldn’t rebound, make an open layup or our free throws,” said Alleghany coach Danny Keene following his team’s 59-40 loss to William Byrd Tuesday night at Mountaineer Gym.
The Lady Terriers (1-1 BRD, 3-8) outrebounded the Mounties 42-24 on the night and made 13-of-21 free throw attempts, compared to 10-of-21 for their hosts.
“The free throw line has killed us all year long and I don’t know how many open layups we missed tonight,” stated Keene. “We have got to do a better job of taking advantage of open looks.”
Kelsey Brown’s jumper with 5:22 remaining in the first quarter gave Alleghany an early 5-2 lead, but the Terriers would knot things up at eight following a layup from Maggie Self. Kamera Hagins gave William Byrd the lead for good a minute later with a stickback as the Terriers led 13-11 after the first quarter.
The second quarter proved to be the difference in this one as William Byrd outscored Alleghany, 13-4, to take a 26-15 advantage at the break.
The Lady Terriers opened the quarter with a 6-0 run to take a 19-11 lead before Brown hit 1-of-2 at the stripe to end the Mounties’ scoring drought. The teams traded free throws for most of the second quarter and Lindsey Carver’s runner with a 28 seconds left in the first half gave Byrd the 26-15 lead.
Alleghany connected on just 4-of-16 (25 percent) shots in the first half and was outrebounded, 24-10.
The Lady Mounties showed signs of life to open the third quarter as Brown dished to Sara Church for a three-point play to bring AHS within eight, 26-18, but Byrd’s Alexis Ratliff, who led all scorers with 12 points, countered with a nice drive to the basket to put the Terriers ahead by 10.
William Byrd extended their lead to 11 midway through the third quarter and led 41-28 heading into the final eight minutes.
The Terriers scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to take a 46-28 lead before Alleghany’s Paige Irvine countered with a three-point play, but it was too late as William Byrd cruised to the 59-40 Blue Ridge District win over the Lady Mountaineers.
“The thing about this group of girls is they aren’t going to hang their heads about this loss,” said Keene. “They are going to come back in this gym tomorrow ready to get after it. That’s what makes this season so fun to be a part of.
“We’re going to work hard to get better because it is definitely not due to lack of effort,” added the AHS coach. “Rebounding, layups and free throws will be the emphasis of tomorrow’s practice.”
Alleghany (4-9, 0-2 BRD) will be back in action Friday at home against Rockbridge County. Action begins at 5:30 p.m. with the junior varsity game.
The Terriers made it a sweep of the Mounties with a 31-25 win in the junior varsity preliminary.
Courtney Gillespie led Alleghany with 11 points, while Cristen Walton added nine. Karleigh Thompson had three and Darien Nagel rounded out the scoring with two points.
Stacy Shradder led the William Byrd jayvees with 15 points.
Alleghany enjoyed an 18-14 lead at halftime.
