Lexington girls survive scare to win over Chester

LEXINGTON -- With everything that the Lexington girls basketball team did right in the third quarter, it all seemed to come apart in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Tigers had to fight through two Chester County opportunities in the final eight seconds to take the lead to survive with a 46-45 victory over the Eaglettes on Tuesday.
With this win, Lexington (20-4, 7-2) forces Friday’s rematch at Chester County (17-10, 7-2) as a battle for No. 2 in the district. South Side (9-1) will be the No. 1 seed heading into the District 14-AA tournament.
Kaylie Grant led the way with 11 points for the Lady Tigers, while Kaitlyn Kelley added 10 points.
Grant’s major impact came in the first half when the rest of the team wasn’t shooting the ball well.
“I was able to get some big offensive rebounds tonight,” Grant said. “We were more in sync, playing hard and working together.”
She did have some big offensive rebounds, but she also hit some mid-range jumpers, as Thomas called Grant the x-factor for Lexington.
But Lexington did start hitting shots to start the second half, sparked by 3-pointers by Kelley and Arnold to help the Lady Tigers go on a 13-0 run to take a 34-23 lead with 2:01 to play.
“In the first half, we didn’t do a bad job on Paige [Pipkin], but in the third quarter, we locked in on defense,” Lexington coach Bianca Thomas said. “Nabreyah [Howard] did a great job on Pipkin.
“We also had some easy transition baskets. They missed some shots, and we got out in transition.”
Momentum definitely swung onto the side of the Lady Tigers with eight minutes to play, and a layup by Whitney Roberts to start the fourth quarter to give Lexington the 43-29 lead proved that.
But that is when things started to unravel. Chester County started bringing pressure defense to Lexington’s ball handlers, and the Lady Tigers didn’t respond well.
Just like Lexington’s two district losses to South Side, the Lady Tigers turned the ball over and opened the door for the Eaglettes to get back in the game.
A free throw by Savanna Naylor cut Lexington’s lead to six before Paige Pipkin picked up her fifth foul.
Her teammates were still able to rally as Margie Coleman hit a 3-pointer and Amya Boyle hit a layup after a steal to cut Lexington’s lead to one point (46-45) with 22.7 seconds to play.
“In the fourth quarter, we choked under pressure, but in the end of the game, the kids were mentally tough,” Thomas said. “We have been working on that a lot. We have to be able to limit turnovers. Against South Side, we turned the ball over at a rapid pace. We have to play under control.”
Chester County scored the final 16 points of the ballgame.
Naylor led the Eaglettes with 13 points, while Pipkin and Boyle added 11 points each.
Now the teams have two days off before playing again.
“We want to win because we want to move up to second and not have to play the extra game,” Grant said. “

Boys
Lexington 77,
Chester Co. 55 

After a slow start, the Tigers (12-14, 5-4) came out strong in the final three quarters to walk away with a district win and secure the No. 3 seed in the District 14-AA tournament.
Tylan Johnson led Lexington with 25 points, while Trevon Bryant added 21 and Christian Linton had 11.
Chester County (3-20, 0-9) was led by Caleb Johnson with 20 points.
Michael Odom, 425-9754

Postponed games

McKenzie at Big Sandy – Moved to Thursday
West Carroll at Huntingdon – Moved to Friday
Westview at Obion County – Moved to Saturday
Riverside at TCA – Moved to Monday