Lisbon rallies in fourth quarter to beat South Range
NORTH LIMA — When the Lisbon Blue Devils dropped a home game to the South Range Raiders on Dec. 10, they didn’t play what coach Jamie Entrikin felt was the type of game they were capable of playing.
He told his team that if they expected to turn their season around, then they would need to fix some things at both ends of the court.
After dropping a one-point decision to league leader Springfield on Dec. 17, the Blue Devils came in their game Thursday at South Range riding a six-game win streak with the hopes of remaining a game back of the Tigers in the race for the Inter Tri-County League’s Tier One crown.
Mindy Jackson scored 15 points despite suffering early foul trouble; Abbey Brammer added 11 points and Lisbon used an 8-2 run to start the final quarter as the Blue Devils avenged their earlier loss to the Raiders, 46-43.
“We knew that it would be difficult to play here tonight and while it wasn’t pretty, we’ll take it,” Entriken said. “Our girls work hard and dedicate themselves to getting better everyday.
“When Mindy [Jackson] got in early foul trouble, Leah [Johnson] went in and did an excellent job for us,” Entrikin said.
Jackson’s presence was felt at the outset, scoring eight of her game-high 15 points in the opening frame as the Blue Devils built a 14-11 after the first eight minutes.
With Jackson picking up her third foul and retiring to the bench mid-way through the second period, the quarter saw four lead changes and a tie before the Blue Devils settled for the narrow 21-20 advantage at intermission.
“We rarely play a zone but were hoping to buy some time and that is exactly what we were able to do,” said Entriken.
“We’re playing confident right now and just trying to hang around in the league race,” he added.
Lisbon guard Katie Snoddy, who hit a 3-pointer in the opening half and had six points on the night while running the Blue Devils’ offense, said it was a total team effort.
“We’ve been talking about this game for some time and worked hard all week in practice getting ready for tonight,” she said.
“When Mindy went out with foul trouble, Leah did an excellent job in her place and Abbey [Brammer] was clutch as well.
“Abbey’s free throws down the stretch were big,” Snoddy said.
Brammer’s three-point play to start the third quarter gave the Blue Devils a 24-20 lead, but the Raiders went on a 9-1 run to forge a 29-25 lead before settling for a 31-27 advantage heading to the final quarter.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight, but give credit to Lisbon for playing great defense the entire night,” said South Range coach Wayne Johnson.
”We didn’t get many good shots and didn’t make the shots when we had the looks,” he added.
“I felt good when we had a four-point lead to start the final period, but we gave them three easy buckets and that changed the complexion of the game.
“We weren’t on our game tonight but were still able to hang with them,” Johnson said.
Two buckets by Jackson keyed that 8-2 run to start the final period as Lisbon (10-2, 6-2) turned a four-point deficit into a 37-33 lead; a lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the game.
Brammer scored six of her 11 points in the final period for Lisbon while Emily Seman had five of her 10 points in the frame for the Raiders, who fell to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in league play.
Tabitha Stanton and Ellie Stoffer also scored 10 points each for South Range.