Riley Sale scored 20 points and the Ladycats hit six of six free throws in the final 90 seconds to take a 49-40 5A bi-district playoff victory over Canyon Randall Monday in Vernon.
Senior post Maddie Shumway added nine points, 12 rebounds, a number of blocked and altered shots and several big assists in the fourth quarter.
Elizabeth Allanach added 9 points, all in the second half. Audrey Pearce scored seven points. Sale, Shumway and Pearce each hit a pair of free throws in the final 90 seconds for the Ladycats.
With the victory, the Ladycats advance to the area playoffs, where they will play the winner of the El Paso Burges/El Paso Bel Air bi-district game.
Aledo jumped out to a 9-6 lead after one quarter, with all of Randall’s points coming on fast break layups after beating the Aledo press. The Ladycats, who trailed 4-0, got the lead by pounding the offensive boards and making free throws.
However, Randall hit a pair of three-point shots to open the second quarter and take a 12-9 lead. However the Ladycats outscored Randall 11-2 the rest of the quarter to take a 20-14 lead at the half.
Aledo held the lead for the entire second half, but could never pull away from the Lady Raiders.
Aledo led by 11, 36-25, with 7:25 left in the game. However, less than two minutes later Randall had trimmed the lead to 36-33 to give Randall hope for an upset.
Sale then hit a jumper and got a layup off a steal to give the Ladycats some breathing room. Aledo also spread the floor and put Shumway in the high post, where she found Allanach cutting to the basket for some easy points.
The free throws down the stretch helped Aledo pull away.
The Ladycats improve to 25-7 with the victory.
Click here for a link to gallery of action images from Monday’s game.
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