Russellville’s comeback fell just short.
The Capital City Lady Cavaliers sustained a four-point third quarter and held on for a 59-51 win Friday night against the Lady Indians at Capital City High School.
The Lady Cavaliers shot nearly 45 percent from the field in the first half to create a 37-16 lead with 58 seconds to go before the break, then Russellville started to charge back.
“The first half was a really good half for us defensively and offensively,” Capital City coach Ashley Agee said. “We were kind of jiving together, reading each other, playing well together on both ends of the floor.”
Audra Whittle made two free throws to cut the halftime deficit to 37-18, then the Lady Indians stormed out of the break on a 6-0 run with two points coming from Hallee Stewart, and four from Camie Grayson, four of her game-high 18. The run cut Capital City’s lead to 37-24.
Rylea Sanning assisted Aslyn Marshall on a long jumper to break the Cavaliers scoreless spell with 3:09 left in the third, but an Addison Jones steal-turned-layup were the Lady Cavaliers’ only other points of the quarter.
While the Cavaliers struggled offensively, Russellville scored another nine points with six coming from Grayson, including two free throws with :00.2 left on the clock, to cut the lead to 41-31.
“We were executing better and attacking more,” Russellville coach Brian Bishop said. “We weren’t settling for those 3s, just trying to get our bucket and get to the free throw line.”
Grayson added two more free throws to start the fourth and cut the lead to seven, but Jones scored four consecutive points for the Lady Cavaliers to maintain the advantage.
Four more points from Grayson cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 45-39 with 4:38 to play, but the Lady Indians would get no closer.
Sanning assisted Marshall on another long 2 to extend the lead back to eight, then Natalie Allison connected on two free throws, two of her team-high 17 points, to bring the score to 49-41. Free throws went back and forth the rest of the way, as the teams combined for four players fouling out and 56 total free-throw attempts, with the Lady Cavaliers staying in front.
“We had the conversation at halftime that our shots probably weren’t going to fall like (the first half) and they were gonna come on a run,” Agee said. “We had a terrible third quarter, we were just being passive, we almost played to lose. We’re not up by 20 very often, so it’s a learning experience. … I was proud of them fourth quarter, we were tough with the ball and stepped up and made our free throws.”
Capital City started quickly, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after Jada Anderson hit a low-post layup and two free throws, but Anderson was hit with foul trouble early, opening the door for Marshall off the bench.
Marshall made the most of her extra playing time, grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds, including six offensive boards and three coming on free-throw attempts.
The Lady Cavaliers used a 6-0 run in the first quarter with four coming from Kambry Pistel, who totaled 13 points all coming in the first half, to build a 14-9 lead at the first break.
Capital City then held Russellville scoreless for nearly five minutes while going on an 18-2 run, highlighted by four 3s, two from Pistel and two from Allison, to build its 19-point halftime margin.
“It was a tale of two halves for us,” Bishop said. “We came out dead in the first half and couldn’t get anything going. We weren’t doing fundamental things, boxing out, rebounding, too many lazy turnovers. Second half, came out on fire. We ended up cutting it to six, but we just got down too far in the first half.”
Capital City shot 19-of-51 (37.3 percent) overall, 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from the 3-point line and 16-of-30 (53.3 percent) from the free-throw line.
Russellville hit 17-of-44 (38.6 percent) overall, 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) from beyond the arc and 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) from the free-throw line.
“We had to talk about slowing down and playing our basketball and playing within ourselves,” Agee said. “We were getting hectic there and made some bad choices. … But that was some of the most positive team play that we’ve had.”
Along with her 17 points, Allison totaled six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Jones complemented her 12 points with six rebounds, six steals and three assists, while Sanning had five points and five rebounds.
Grayson added six rebounds to her 18-point performance for Russellville, while Ella Volkart had 13 points and four rebounds.
Capital City (2-5) is off until it plays Blue Valley West (Kan.) in the Twelve Courts of Christmas on Dec. 17 in Kansas City.
Russellville (3-4) plays host to St. Elizabeth on Tuesday.