The Capital City offense went quiet late.
The Lady Cavaliers came back from a third-quarter deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead, but were unable to hold on as the Eldon Lady Mustangs beat Capital City 53-50 at Capital City High School on Tuesday.
It was the second time Eldon beat Capital City in December, with the Lady Mustangs taking a 52-38 win Dec. 2.
Sydney Halderman hit a pull-up jumper for the Lady Mustangs, for two of her 15 points, to put Eldon up 40-34 with under two minutes left in the third quarter, then Capital City began to chip away.
Natalie Allison connected on a 3, helping her build a nine-point performance with all nine coming in the third quarter, then Amaura Austell turned a steal into a layup to cut the lead to 40-39.
“We are busting tail, we are working hard, but it’s little things that continue to bite us in the butt,” Capital City coach Ashley Agee said.
A Delaney McGhay right-wing 3 extended the advantage back to 43-39, but Allison charged into the lane with seconds left on the clock and drew a foul, sending her to the line for two free throws with :01.3 left. Allison hit both to send the Lady Cavaliers into the fourth down only 43-41.
After an Eldon free throw to open the quarter, the Lady Cavaliers held the Lady Mustangs scoreless for the next 4:25, while Capital City built its first lead of the second half.
Aslyn Marshall hit a layup off one of Rylea Sanning’s four assists, then connected on a putback after Sanning used an Allison assist on an inbounds pass to put the Lady Cavaliers up 47-44 after a 6-0 run with 5:25 left to play.
The score remained until the 3:24 mark when a Sanning technical foul led to two free throws for Haley Henderson, two of her game-high 23 points, which swung all the momentum.
“That was a turning point for us and we had a couple of injuries late that put me into my bench,” Agee said.
Halderman connected on a floater, Henderson hit a pull-up jumper and Halderman hit another pull-up to put the Lady Mustangs up 52-47 with 1:08 to play after an 8-0 run.
“Right now, we’re struggling to do the easy thing,” Agee said. “We missed some point-blank layups. … We’ve got to be able to finish.”
Capital City ended a 5:14 scoreless streak with a Danijah Fluellen right-corner 3, three of her 10 points, but was unable to cut the margin any closer.
The teams stayed close to start, exchanging points to an 11-8 Eldon lead with the help of four Fluellen points and two from Austell, who entered the Capital City starting lineup for the first time.
“We’re preaching hard work at practice,” Agee said. “If you don’t show hard work in practice, you’re going to lose the starting spot. … Tonight, putting Amaura and Danijah in first with their clientele and who they have, I thought we matched up better.”
The Lady Mustangs got to a 16-10 lead, but a Kambry Pistel right-wing 3 off an Allison assist and Capital City into the first break down 16-13.
Marshall scored the first four overall points and first six Lady Cavalier points, six of her team-high 14 points, out of the break to give Capital City a 19-18 lead with 4:58 left, but Eldon scored the next seven to help build a 33-25 lead at halftime.
Capital City shot 22-of-52 (42.3 percent) overall, 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) from beyond the arc and 3-of-8 (37.5 percent) from the free-throw line. Eldon hit 19-of-63 (30.2 percent) of its tries from the field, 8-of-26 (30.8 percent) of its attempts from 3 and 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) at the free-throw line.
Henderson added six rebounds to her 23-point performance for the Lady Mustangs, while Halderman had five rebounds and three steals to go with her 15 points. Lydia Cotten led the Lady Mustangs with 10 rebounds and five steals.
Marshall totaled five boards to add to her 14-point showing, while Sanning had six boards and four assists. Anderson led the Lady Cavaliers with eight rebounds, while Fluellen added five boards to her 10-point performance.
“We are getting better, the girls are getting better,” Agee said. “Now it’s just understanding the IQ point of the game and making the right decision.”
Capital City (2-7) is off for the week until it returns to its home court for the start of the Jefferson Bank Holiday Hoops Classic next Wednesday.
Eldon (5-4) is done for 2022 and will tip off again Jan. 3 at Buffalo.
Capital City beat Eldon 43-8 during junior varsity action Tuesday at Capital City High School.
Fluellen led the Lady Cavaliers with nine points, while Jamila Lee, Kamryn Anthony and Michele Narug had seven each.