BEAR CREEK — While Johnny Cash might claim to have “walked the line,” Monday night it was Chatham Central who “cashed in” at the line against Albemarle in first-round action of the Yadkin Valley 1A Conference Tournament in Gerald L. Binkley Gymnasium.
After battling to a draw following 32 minutes of regulation play, the third-seed Lady Bears sank seven-of-10 free throw attempts in the final two minutes of an overtime session to collar a hard-earned 48-44 victory over the sixth-seed Lady Bulldogs.
The triumph elevated Chatham Central to 14-10 for the season and advanced the winners into a tourney semifinal round matchup against second-seed North Rowan (18-7) Wednesday night in Denton, while Albemarle fell to 9-16 overall.
Danielle Vaughn topped the Lady Bears with 14 points and Mary Grace Murchison chipped in 12 as Chatham Central shot 30 percent (17-of-57) from the floor while turning the ball over 20 times.
Deshada Wall led the Lady Bulldogs with 21 points as Albemarle connected on 25 percent (16-of-64) of its field goal attempts, including seven-of-35 from three-point range, and held a 42-38 advantage on the boards while committing 18 turnovers.
Seven lead changes and three ties in the first quarter alone set the tone for the evening, as the contest featured a total of 22 lead changes and seven ties in all.
“To me the difference in the game was once we got the lead in overtime we showed a determination to win by taking better care of the basketball and crashing the boards to rebound Albemarle’s missed shots, while Danielle, Mary Grace, Eliana (Phillips) and Savannah (Stilwell) all hit big free throws the last couple of minutes,” said Lady Bears’ coach Lynda Burke.
“Offensively we missed way too many layups in the second half and allowed the game to extend into an extra period because we had some costly turnovers after we took the lead in the fourth quarter,” Burke said. “But defensively we didn’t give up many open looks at the basket and did a good job contesting Albemarle’s perimeter shots.”
Lady Bulldogs’ coach Eric Davis remarked after the teams split the regular-season series in a pair of close games he was expecting another tight battle this go-round.
“I thought both teams were even and played hard tonight, but it all came down to Chatham Central hitting those deciding foul shots in overtime,” stated Davis.
“Our plan was to attack the middle,” said Davis, “but we settled for too many outside shots instead of taking advantage of open gaps in the paint, yet our man-to-man defensive pressure managed to keep us in the game.”
After a seesaw opening stanza that concluded with Albemarle taking a 13-12 lead on Semajhe Porter’s jumper in the lane with 23 seconds left in the frame, the Lady Bulldogs fashioned their biggest advantage at 16-11 following a Porter free throw with 6:09 remaining in the second period.
But the Lady Bears fought back to pull even when Vaughn’s layup with 1:24 to go in the half forged a 30-all standoff at intermission.
Following nine lead changes during a third quarter in which neither squad had more than a three-point advantage, a Wall charity toss with one second remaining sent the teams into the final eight minutes of regulation tied at 33-apiece.
Kristyn McLendon’s trey from the left corner to begin the fourth quarter then put Albemarle up by three before Chatham Central rallied behind layups from Grace Jones and Vaughn to go ahead 37-36. After Wall’s backcourt steal and layup was countered by Olivia Hudson’s lane jumper, Ojay Stanback’s free throw with exactly two minutes on the clock pulled the Lady Bulldogs even at 39-all, and neither team would score again prior to the end of regulation play.
Wall’s three-pointer from the right wing with 3:07 to go in the extra period gave Albemarle its last lead prior to Eliana Phillips canning a pair of foul shots with 2:16 left that gave Chatham Central the advantage for good at 43-42.
Two charity tosses each by Vaughn and Murchison plus a solo free throw by Savannah Stilwell then provided the Lady Bears with their biggest spread of the night at 48-42 before Wall’s put-back in the paint with one second remaining accounted for the final margin.