ACA-LAMP: Golden Tigers sweep Eagles in key area matchup
LAMP’s Smith Carter passes out of trouble during the Tigers’ win over ACA on Friday. (Dylan Hurst)
By DYLAN HURST
It’s difficult to put Friday’s area win by the LAMP girls in perspective.
Now in their 22nd year of fielding a girls’ basketball program, the Golden Tigers have never won an area tournament championship and have just reached the finals twice, winning just seven area tournament games in the past 21 years.
After beating BTW Magnet in the area opener a week ago and defeating Alabama Christian 65-52 on Friday in a 4A Area 5 battle in the LAMP gym, the Golden Tigers moved a step closer to the playoffs by improving to 2-0 in the three-team area.
“I’m so proud of this team, and I’ve been on the team for six years now and we’ve never come this far, so this had been a great experience,” said LAMP senior Ainsley Klein. “This win is great, but we still have a lot left to do this year.”
LAMP has never hosted an area tournament in its nine years as a 4A program and only once (2012) in its history, losing to Montgomery Academy in the finals and again to the Eagles in the South Regional finals in its only regional appearance. The Golden Tigers still have to win games against BTW Magnet and ACA later this month, but a 2-0 start puts the team in the driver’s seat to host the area tournament, which guarantees the program its third sub-regional game appearance in school history.
“Tonight was a huge win for our program, and we’ve been building and building, and this has been a long time coming,” said LAMP coach Michael Thornton. “We’ve got four seniors and three juniors, so this is an experienced team, and they’ve worked so hard, and I’m so proud of our girls.”
At the end of the first quarter, the Golden Tigers held a 16-6 point lead but the Eagles closed to within four, 24-20, at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, LAMP extended the lead to 14 points, leading 45-31 heading into the final quarter where both teams found an offensive spark with a 20-point outburst from both teams.
For the Lady Tigers (9-10), Serenity Griffin led the scoring with 17 points, 18 rebounds and 4 steals. Ariana Cannida scored 15 points. Mackenzie Lewis and Emily Russell both scored 13 points, with Lewis adding eight rebounds and three assists. Hayley Golden scored three points, and Klein and Grayson Dickert both scored two points.
The win now puts LAMP in 1st place in their area, and gives them a shot to host the area tournament, which is something that has only happened once before in program history.
For the Eagles (4-13), Rachel Rhine led the scoring with 24 points and Izzy Warrick scored 14 points. Jaide Newkirk scored six points and Katelyn Sutton scored four points. Katie Campbell scored two points, while Campbell Hammett and Cayla Schofield each scored a point.
ACA, which dropped to 1-1 in area play, returns home to host BTW Magnet (0-2) on Tuesday before LAMP plays at BTW Magnet on Friday.
LAMP boys win on late bucket
Wins have been rare for LAMP and its first-year coach Robb McGaughey this season, meaning the first-year coach was pleased to see his team pull out a last-minute win, 48-46, at home against Alabama Christian Academy on Friday night.
“It’s our first (area) win this season where we had a chance to win it at the end in a close game,” said McGaughey. “That shows me that they’ve been listening to our teaching, and that they’re getting better.”
LAMP, which had won just one game this season before Friday, played from behind for much of the game, trailing 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, 25-17 at the half, and 36-30 at the end of the third quarter. The game was tied at 46-46 with less than 20 seconds remaining and the Golden Tigers used up almost 18 seconds of the clock before a tip-in gave them the lead.
For the Golden Tigers, Ezekiel Griffin led the scoring with 18 points, followed by Jezreel Fishoe with 13 points and Nick Harris with 10. Smith Carter scored five points, while Tatum Owen and Riley Parker both scored a point.
For the Eagles, D’andre Sneed led the scoring with 17 points, followed by Mac Moorer with eight points and Ricardo Rizzoto with five. Isaac Warrick, Jackson Thomas, Clay Williams and Devin Mosely all scored four points each.
All year, LAMP has battled through depth issues after losing most of its varsity players from last year’s team, but McGaughey was happy the Golden Tigers managed to overcome the obstacle on Friday.
“We don’t have the luxury of (depth) behind our starters and it’s a big gap,” he noted. “Everyone has given their best effort and I can’t be more proud of all 13 of our players on this team.”
BTW Magnet leads the 4A Area 5 race at 2-0, followed by LAMP at 1-1 and ACA at 0-2. BTW travels to Alabama Christian on Tuesday and plays host to LAMP on Friday, The winner of the regular-season series between the three teams will host the area tournament in mid-February, guaranteeing the host team a berth in the sub-regional round.