Lincoln’s Olivia Davis (R) is guarded by Hagerstown’s Kassidy Oliger during the sectional at Northeastern on Jan. 30.
FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – Converting free throws had been a problem for the Lincoln girls basketball team.
Last week, in a loss at Northeastern the Golden Eagles would moss all nine of their attempts from the charity stripe.
For a while on Tuesday, it was more of the same results for Lincoln. However, when it counted the most the Golden Eagles came through as they defeated Hagerstown 34-26 in the Class 2A Northeastern Sectional.
“We knew we could come back,” Lincoln Head Coach Garry Laymon said. “They did hold their composure. Even in the first half when we were down eight points. They remained clam.”
Lincoln was 10-of-20 for the night from the free throw line, but in the final minute the Golden Eagles converted 7-of-8 attempts.
Allie Owens hit the first four in a row with 50.5 seconds left and with 37.5 on the clock as the Golden Eagles led 31-26.
“When she hit that first one, it was like she’s going to make the rest of them,” Laymon said. “You could just see her confidence.”
Emmie Pugh hit a pair and Olivia Davis hit 1-of-2 for the final margin to send the Golden Eagles to Friday’s semifinals.
Lincoln (11-11) meets host Northeastern (10-12) in the second game at 7:30 p.m.
Winchester (21-2) plays Union County (10-12) in Friday’s opener at 6 p.m. The winners square off on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Winchester beat Centerville 79-28 in Tuesday’s first contest.
Tigers in Control
Early in the contest, it appeared as if Hagerstown was closing in on a semifinal ticket as the Tigers led 9-2 after the first quarter and then 16-8 at halftime.
That all changed in the third period.
“They hit shots they didn’t hit in the first half,” Hagerstown Head Coach Chris Oliger said. “We’re young and we made some young mistakes in the second half, but we’ll learn from it.”
The Tigers were on top 19-11 after Madison Brown nailed a pair of free throws with 3:15 remaining.
At that point, Davis scored and Rachel Merida drilled a 3-pointer to make it 19-16. With 1.8 seconds left in the frame, Davis scored again and followed with a free throw to tie it at 19-19.
Kassidy Oliger broke the tie to give the Tigers a 21-19 lead to begin the final quarter.
Laynie Russell added a 3-pointer to put the Golden Eagles on top for the first time at 22-21. Hagerstown’s Camryn Bradway answered with a trey to give the Tigers a 24-22 margin.
After Owens tied it at 24-24, Lincoln’s Hannah Hall gave her team the lead for good with a long-range bomb to make it 27-24 with 2:25 left to play.
Brown then scored what turned out to be Hagerstown’s last basket as she closed the gap to 27-26 at the 1:07 mark to set the stage for the Golden Eagles to put the game away.
“Allie Owens stepped to the free throw line and knocked down four straight and that was the game,” Oliger said.
Despite the loss, Oliger was pleased with his team’s effort.
“The adversity that this team has faced this year to finish 11-10 and second in the TEC, my hats off to all of those girls led by Madison Brown and Lacee Dale,” he said.
Davis led the Golden Eagles with 10 points as she grabbed eight rebounds. Owens added six points and eight rebounds.
Hall also had six points and four rebounds, while Russell finished with five points. Pugh had a game-high 10 rebounds.
For the Tigers, Brown led the way in her final game with seven points.
Kenzie Neely had six points and Hallie Rogers tossed in five points. Neely and Rogers both led the Tigers with six rebounds. Kassidy Oliger had five rebounds.