Oak Hill stifles Lamar in road win

Southern Sports & Travel

The third ranked Oak Hill Lady Raiders forced 12 first half turnovers and got balanced scoring en-route to a 65-49 win over seventh ranked Lamar last night in Meridian.

Using a 13-1 second quarter run to bust open what had been a tight contest Oak Hill clearly established themselves as one of the premier Class AA girls teams this season as they improved to 24-5. Four Lady Raiders hit double digits in scoring and a stifling man defense forced 22 Lamar turnovers in the game.

(Above) Anna Ready (#22) of Oak Hill goes up for 2 of her 6 points

Lamar head coach Russell Cruise got the start he had hoped for as his squad looked primed to give Oak Hill all they wanted early on.

The lead would change hands nine times in the first quarter but after Lamar took a 13-11 lead on an Allison Justus inbounds play with 27 seconds left in the quarter Oak Hill got two critical baskets to close the quarter strong.

Rachel Herndon drained a 3-pointer from the wing with 19 seconds left to give Oak Hill a 14-13 lead and freshman Sarah Dill’s driving basket, plus one, with 2 seconds left closed the opening quarter with the third ranked Lady Raiders holding a 17-13 advantage.

The momentum clearly carried over into the second quarter as Oak Hill exploded with a 13-1 run.

Sarah Dill went glass from 10 feet out and followed with a steal and lay-in twenty seconds into the second quarter.

After Sydney Holton hit two free throws Dill drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to push Oak Hill’s lead to 26-13 at the 6:56 mark of the quarter.

After Lamar’s Olivia Mabry converted on one of two free throws Oak Hill capped their 13-1 run as Maegan Ellis hit from 17 feet and then canned two free throws to give the Lady Raiders their biggest lead at 30-14 with 4:05 left in the half.

(Above) Oak Hill freshman Sarah Dill (#14) scores 2 of her 12 points off the bench

Lamar’s first basket of the quarter came at the 3:54 mark when Allie Shirley hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key but six turnovers in the quarter had already done the damage as Oak Hill went into intermission holding a 35-23 lead.

Rachel Herndon’s offensive rebound and put back quickly pushed the Oak Hill lead to 37-23 seven seconds into the third quarter but Lamar avoided getting too far behind as senior Olivia Mabry started heating up.

Mabry would convert on a lay-in, plus one, and nail a 3-pointer from the wing at the 3:39 mark to give Lamar hope down eleven points at 41-30 but they would get no closer in the quarter.

Shay Atkins converted two free throws and Sarah Dill’s bucket in the paint extended the Oak Hill lead to 45-30 with 3:11 to play in the quarter and the Lady Raiders would take a 50-35 lead into the final eight minutes of play.

Oak Hill produced a 6-1 opening fourth quarter run to take their biggest lead of the night at 56-36 with 6:12 left in regulation.

Lamar would make a late run of their own as Olivia Mabry sparked a 10-3 run with back to back 3-pointers to close the gap to 60-47 with 1:34 remaining but Oak Hill would finish the game down the stretch by canning 5/6 at the free throw line to take a 65-49 road win over Lamar.

Maegan Ellis (Photo left) and Shay Atkins led Oak Hill with 14 points each, Rachel Herndon and Sarah Dill added 12 each, Anna Ready had 6 and Sydney Holton 4.

Olivia Mabry led Lamar (22-6) with a game high 25 points, Natalie Williams added 10, Allie Shirley 6, Lallie Bennett 4 and Alison Justus 2.

Oak Hill will host Carroll on Friday while Lamar travels to Leake as the regular season closes.

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Post Game with Oak Hill Head Coach Stan Hughey