WAVERLY — Sometimes there’s a big difference between two teams. The biggest difference between the Minford Lady Falcons and Chesapeake Lady Panthers was 6-foot-4.
Minford’s 6-4 senior center Lindsee Williams scored 18 points as the Lady Falcons beat the Lady Panthers and took a 44-31 win on Wednesday in the Division 5 district semifinals at Waverly’s Downtown Arena.
“They were just too big and the physicality of the game wore us down,” said Lady Panthers’ coach Chris Ball.
Williams scored the first 6 points of the game before the Lady Panthers’ Kate Ball made a foul shot at the 4:05 mark. She then hit a 3-pointer and it was 6-4.
Williams finished with 8 points in the quarter as Minford took a 12-10 lead. Ball scored all of Chesapeake’s points.
Abby Mitchell hit a layup with 7:12 on the clock to tie the game at 12-all. Abbey Isaacs’ layup had Chesapeake down 16-14 but Minford scored the final 6 points of the quarter to lead 22-14 at the half.
Coach Ball said the Lady Panthers stayed closed due to the leadership of seniors Erin Hicks, Cierra Akers and Kate Ball. But the Lady Panthers went cold in the third quarter and Minford stretched its lead.
“We kept it close early. Kate shot it well and we battled defensively. We had a small run to finish the second quarter,” said coach Ball.
“The third quarter we gave up some transition baskets. You can’t do that against a team like Minford.”
Ball hit a trifecta to start the second half and Chesapeake was down 22-17 with 5:27 on the clock.
Ava Cronin hit a 15-footer and Williams and Lexi Conkel made layups as the lead went to 28-17.
Chesapeake didn’t score until Ball sank a foul shot with 1:43 on the clock, but Kereigan Davis hit a 3-pointer and Maggie Risner had a layup and it was 33-18 to end the quarter.
Ball scored 9 points in the fourth quarter that included a pair of long 3-pointers and Chesapeake outscored Minford 13-11, but it was well short of what the Lady Panthers needed to catch the Lady Falcons.
Ball finished her career by scoring a game-high 23 points as she made six 3-pointers.
Chesapeake 10 4 4 13 = 31
Minford 12 10 11 11 = 44
CHESAPEAKE (12-12): Sara Dillon 0 0 0-0 0, Erin Hicks 1 0 0-0 2, Chloe Parrott 0 0 0-0 0, Abbey Isaacs 1 0 0-0 2, Clairynn Romans 0 0 0-0 0, Kate Ball 1 6 3-6 23, Ciera Nichols 0 0 0-0 0, Abby Mitchell 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 5 6 3-6 31. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.
MINFORD (18-5): Maggie Risner 2 0 0-0 4, Ava Cronin 1 0 0-0 2, Lexi Conkel 3 0 0-0 6, Lindsee Williams 9 0 0-0 18, Marlee Pendleton 1 0 1-2 3, Lexi Pendleton 0 0 0-0 0, Kerigan Davis 2 1 0-0 7, Lainey Howard 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 18 1 3-4 44. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.
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