HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – The Lincoln girls basketball team won the opener of the Wayne County Tournament on Thursday as the Golden Eagles defeated Hagerstown 40-38.
The Golden Eagles (12-3) face Friday’s winner of Northeastern and Centerville in Saturday’s title affair.
Lincoln survived the final moments to win a tight contest against the host Tigers (6-9).
“They deserved to win that game,” Lincoln coach Rob Bills said of the Tigers. “I was proud of our kids for being resilient.”
The Golden Eagles trailed at the intermission 20-17, but they fought back to lead 31-28 after three.
“About the time our kids were starting to feel good, they put a little pressure on us,” Bills said. “We’re happy we found a way to win. Anytime, you can survive and advance that’s you are after.”
Hagerstown’s Madison Brown gave the Tigers a 38-37 lead with 1:30 to go after she hit her second straight 3-pointer.
Kylei Klien’s rebound basket for Lincoln gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good at 39-38 with 50 seconds remaining.
“Those girls played their hearts out,” Hagerstown coach Chris Oliger said. “We got in bad foul trouble in the first half.”
“I could not be prouder of those eight girls,” Oliger added. “Just an outstanding effort. We did everything we could to get the job done, we just came up a little bit short.”
Kerrigan Neff led Lincoln with 16 points as Klein finished with eight.
Brown led the Tigers with 13 and Hannah Rogers tossed in nine.
Box Score
HAGERSTOWN (6-9) – Hannah Rogers 2 4-5 9, Victoria Pierson 0 0-0 0, Madison Brown 4 2-2 13, Brytni Dale 3 0-1 7, Kassidy Oliger 2 1-4 5, Beth Jenkins 0 2-2 2, Camryn Bradway 1 0-0 2, Caysey Farmer 0 0-0 0. Team – 12 9-14 38.
LINCOLN (12-3) – Allie Owens 3 0-0 7, Laynie Russell 2 0-0 5, Emmie Pugh 2 0-0 4, Kerrigan Neff 6 4-8 16, Kylei Klein 2 4-8 8, Lauren Weston 0 0-0 0, Olivia Davis 0 0-0 0, Hannah Hall 0 0-0 0. Team – 15 8-16 40.
Hagerstown 8 20 28 38
Lincoln 6 17 31 40
3-pointers – Hagerstown 5 (Brown 3, Rogers, Dale); Lincoln 2 (Owens, Russell). Rebounds – Hagerstown 33 (Dale 13); Lincoln 26 (Klein 9). Turnovers – Hagerstown 12, Lincoln 21. Fouls – Hagerstown 20, Lincoln 14. Fouled out – Oliger.