Red Raiders hold off Lady Jets

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SILER CITY — Ashley Bowman’s basket off the left baseline with 2:53 to play broke a 32-all stalemate before her three-pointer from the left wing a minute later put the final nail in the coffin as High Point Andrews held off a determined second-half Jordan-Matthews comeback to capture a 37-32 PAC 7 2A Conference victory over the Lady Jets Friday night in Frank N. Justice Gymnasium.

Improving to 9-0 on the road, the Lady Red Raiders won their fifth straight outing and swept the season series while climbing to 6-1 in the league standings and 14-2 overall, whereas J-M dropped to 1-6 in the conference and 5-13 for the year with its fourth consecutive setback.

Bowman led Andrews with 10 points and Sequoyah Johnson finished with eight as the Lady Red Raiders connected on 33% (16-of-48) of their attempts from the field while committing 13 turnovers.

Jasmine Scotten notched 12 points for Jordan-Matthews while Makayla Glover added eight. The duo collected eight rebounds apiece as the Lady Jets held a 27-20 advantage on the boards and shot 35% (15-of-43) from the floor while turning the ball over 18 times.

“I feel fortunate to get this win,” remarked Andrews’ coach John Shearin. “Ashley Bowman managed to hit a couple of key buckets in the final three minutes and we were able to persevere against a J-M team that battled us to the wire.”

Added Shearin, “Credit Jordan-Matthews for playing a great game. I thought they played harder and outhustled us to take away a lot of our touches in the second half, and their rebounding limited our second-chance opportunities. Their guards did a good job taking care of the ball and didn’t try to force things, while we got a little too patient on offense after halftime and were content to pass the ball instead of attacking the rim.”

Lady Jets’ coach Charles Byrd noted an 11-0 run by the Lady Red Raiders in the second quarter presented a big challenge for his team to overcome.

“After we built a five-point lead at the end of the first period we suddenly found ourselves trailing by six, but this group never quits and fought back to put us in a position to win at the end,” said Byrd.

“While I thought our defense was outstanding all evening and the girls did a great job on the glass,” Byrd said, “we’re still struggling to find points at times in the game, and tonight silly turnovers hurt us again. But if we can capitalize offensively, hit a few more shots and finish a little bit better around the rim I believe we can still make a run late in the season.”

After J-M jumped out to an early 5-0 advantage, Andrews responded with a 6-0 spurt of its own before Maggie Thornton’s jumper in the lane, a Glover layup and Scotten’s put-back in the paint gave Jordan-Matthews an 11-6 lead at the conclusion of the initial stanza.

But behind six points from Jeriel Nesbitt, the Lady Red Raiders opened the second frame with an 11-0 burst to seize a 17-11 advantage with 4:36 left until halftime prior to the Lady Jets reducing the margin to 22-17 at the break.

Following Ashlyn Ray’s jumper from the left wing with 7.6 seconds to go in the third quarter that drew J-M within 27-26, Bowman drained a trey from the left side at the horn to push Andrews’ lead out to four before Glover’s jumper off the right baseline and Scotten’s put-back off the left baseline pulled Jordan-Matthews even at 30-all with 3:59 remaining in the contest.

After Ray’s layup then countered one by the Lady Red Raiders’ Zoria Scott, Bowman tallied the deciding points prior to adding her three-pointer exactly one minute later to give Andrews a five-point cushion while the Lady Jets were held scoreless over the final three minutes.