Lady Rams upset front-running Mustangs

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 2 February 2017 at 9:24 pm

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Meghan Washington puts up a shot as Medina’s Maddie Winters tries to block. R-H’s Skyler Christopher tries to block out. The action took place during the host Lady Rams upset win over the league leading Mustangs.

Gaining that elusive first league victory of the season in impressive fashion, Roy-Hart shocked visiting Medina 54-52 this evening knocking the Niagara-Orleans leading Mustangs from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Ava Bligh scored 12 of her 15 points and Meghan Washington 8 of her 9 in the sea-saw fourth quarter to earn Roy-Hart its first N-O win after 8 losses. Bligh hit 6 free throws in the final two minutes to help clinch the win.

Ellie Todd also scored 15 and Maddy Fry 11 for the Lady Rams as Skyler Christopher and Delaney Draper each chipped in with 2.

“I’ve known all season that they could play like this they just had to put a whole game together,” said Roy-Hart Coach Grace Swick. “It’s a great win and hopefully will build some confidence heading into the rest of the season.”

Je’ne Brown took game high scoring honors with 16 for Medina which slips to 6-1 in N-O action. Maddie Williams added 9, Molley Gross 8, Maddie Winters 7 and Kayla Cuadra and Emily Kams 6 for the Mustangs.

Medina’s Molley Gross puts a shot up over Roy-Hart defender Delaney Draper.

Roy-Hart grabbed a 14-9 lead at the end of a sea-saw first quarter which saw 3 ties and 5 lead changes. Todd tallied 9 to lead the Lady Rams in the early going.

Plagued by a total of 21 turnovers in the first half, Medina fell behind by 10, 20-10, midway through the second period as Christopher, Bligh and Fry took turns scoring for Roy-Hart.

After a layup by Winters snapped a 6 minute long Medina field goal drought, the Mustangs added a layup by Cuadra and a three-point play by Brown to cut the deficit to five, 22-17, at the half.

Back-to-back threes by Kams then put Medina up 23-22 at the outset of what proved to be a sea-saw third period which included 3 ties and as many lead changes.

Medina emerged with a slender 33-32 lead at the thee-quarter mark after a rebound bucket by Cuadra with 6 seconds to go.

However, Roy-Hart quickly regained a 36-33 lead at the outset of the decisive final period on a jumper by Washington and a rebound basket by Bligh and the sea-saw battle was on again.

In all there were no less than 4 ties and 6 lead changes down the stretch.

The sea-saw battle saw Medina go up 39-38 on two threes by Williams, Roy-Hart 41-39 on a jumper by Bligh, Medina 45-41 on a layup by Gross and 2 free throws by Brown and Roy-Hart 46-45 on a layup by Bligh.

Medina’s last lead came at 47-46 on a layup by Winters with just over two minutes to go.

Roy-Hart answered with 5 free throws, 3 by Bligh and 2 by Washington, to regain the lead for good at 51-47 with 44 seconds remaining.

A jumper by Gross pulled Medina back to within two, 51-49, with 30 seconds to go but Bligh got those points right back for Roy-Hart 5 seconds later with a pair of clutch free throws for a 53-49 Lady Rams lead.

A three-point play by Brown pulled Medina back to within one, 53-51, at the 16 second mark but the Mustangs would get no closer.

Bligh tacked on a free throw for the Lady Rams with 6 seconds to go and then came up with a big steal to seal the upset victory.