Girls basketball competes at Battle of the States

The LCHS varsity girls basketball team bounced back from a first round heartbreaking overtime loss to Murphy, N.C. at the Battle of the States tournament hosted by Towns County High School with a huge win over Walhalla, S.C. to go 1-1 through the first two days of the three-day tournament this past week.
The Lady Indians, who won the tournament last year, didn’t have an easy go of it in the first round of the Battle of the States when the tournament kicked off on Thursday, Dec. 26.
Lumpkin’s first opponent was Murphy, N.C., who had won the tournament two seasons previous.
The Lady Indians jumped out to an early lead with a 9-2 run to start the game. However, the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 15-11 by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Lumpkin outscored Murphy 18-16 to take a 33-27 advantage into the halftime break.
The Lady Bulldogs kept plugging away in the third quarter, as their offense picked up, and held the Lady Indians to 10 points in the quarter while scoring 18 points of their own. The result was a 45-43 lead for Murphy going into the final quarter.
Lumpkin got help from junior point guard Isabel Davenport in the fourth quarter and the Lady Indians were able to take a 57-54 advantage with less than 20 seconds left on the clock.
However, the Lady Bulldogs knocked down a big three-pointer with 11.2 seconds remaining to even the score at 57-57.
The Lady Indians had several chances in the final seconds to knock down the winning basket, but each of their three attempts at a shot wouldn’t go down.
When the final buzzer of regulation sounded, both teams were still tied 57-57, forcing overtime.
Murphy got the upper hand in the overtime period, outscoring Lumpkin 13-8, and pulled out a 70-65 victory to send the Lady Indians to the consolation bracket.
Davenport did everything in her power to get Lumpkin the win, knocking down 28 points, but her effort fell short.
“She’s a competitor,” said LCHS head girls basketball coach David Dowse about Davenport’s performance.
Lexi Pierce finished the contest with 15 points, Makenzie Caldwell contributed 13 points and Kate Jackson added eight points in the loss.
Jackson fouled out midway through the third quarter which affected the Lady Indians’ ability to pull down rebounds and deny second chance scoring opportunities in the second half.
Dowse was upset by his team’s 30 turnovers in the game and felt his team was one possession away from earning a win.
“We were one free-throw made, one steal, one rebound away from winning the game,” Dowse said.
The loss set the stage for the Lady Indians to face off with Walhalla, S.C. on Friday, Dec. 27, in second round action.
The Lady Indians showed a grit, tenacity and fight from the first whistle to the last in their matchup with the Lady Razorbacks.
Lumpkin’s stifling defense produced a bevy of fast break opportunities and the Lady Indians jumped out to a 19-7 first quarter lead.
Lumpkin continued to shut down the Lady Razorbacks’ offense in the second quarter and outscored Walhalla 12-9 to take a 33-16 advantage into halftime.
The Lady Indians continued the trend in the second half and didn’t allow the Lady Razorbacks to score in double digits in any of the four quarters of the contest.
Lumpkin outscored Walhalla 10-5 in the third and 18-9 in the fourth to emerge victorious by a final score of 59-30.
“Everything starts from the defense,” Dowse said. “It opened up our transition game, which is how we get a lot of our points. We competed well and showed the kind of effort you like to see.”
Davenport once again had a sensational game for the Lady Indians in the win over Walhalla, dropping 22 points. Davenport drained six three-pointers in the game and went 2-for-2 at the free throw line.
Pierce also had a strong game with 16 points.
Caldwell finished the game with eight points, Jackson added seven points and center Madisyn Echols dropped six points.
The win moved the Lady Indians to the third/fourth place game to be played the following day.
At press time, the Lady Indians were set to take on Hayesville, N.C. on day three of the Battle of the States tournament on Saturday, Dec. 28. No official results were available.
The LCHS varsity girls basketball team will step back on the court when they square off with North Hall on the road in a Region 7-AAA matchup this Friday, Jan. 3. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.