Northeastern’s Madi Clay scored 14 points against Hagerstown as the Knights advanced into the title game of the Wayne County Tournament.
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – A big fourth quarter for the Northeastern girls basketball team on Friday night sent the Knights to the finale of the Wayne County Tournament for the first time since 1999.
The Knights (8-6) beat Hagerstown 44-34 to advance to Saturday’s championship against Lincoln (7-7), which gets underway at 6 p.m.
“The girls realized what was on the line,” Northeastern Head Coach Princess Darnell said. “We have some young kids on the team and it took us a little bit to get used to this environment.”
“We haven’t made to a county championship since 1999 and that’s before these girls were born,” Darnell continued. “They really wanted it, so they did what needed to be done to make that happen.”
Madi Clay led the charge for the Knights, who entered the final period trailing 29-26.
Alizah Rankin scored to make it 29-28 before Clay gave the Knights their first lead at 30-29 with 6:49 to go.
After Hagerstown tied the contest on a free throw by Hallie Rogers, it was Clay that delivered the decisive punch.
Clay drilled a 3-pointer and moments later, she hit another basket that put the Knights on top 35-30 with 4:12 remaining.
“A lot of people contributed to this win,” Darnell said. “Madi Clay is a great senior and great leader.”
The Knights were able to maintain their distance the rest of the way to earn a chance to win the title for the first time since 1998, the year before their last appearance in the finale.
“They executed down the stretch and we didn’t,” Hagerstown Head Coach Chris Oliger said. “The effort was there. We didn’t do what we needed to do down the stretch, They hit their free throws and we didn’t.”
Clay scored 11 of her game-high 14 points in the final period as she converted all four of her free throws.
Jenna McFarland tossed in 11 points, while Emma Wright and Rankin added six points each. Ranklin led the way with nine rebounds and Wright grabbed eight.
For the Tigers (7-9), Rogers led the way with 10 points. Camryn Bradway finished with seven and Madison Brown tossed in six.
Taylor Kelley had eight rebounds and Kassidy Oliger had seven.