Maggie Rich struggled through the worst shooting game of her young career on Saturday.
Rich still got to celebrate because it was also the most rewarding game she and her East Rowan teammates have experienced.
Rich struggled mightily with her shot Saturday, but the super sophomore persevered to lead the Mustangs to a 36-31 victory against South Rowan in the championship game of the Sam Moir Christmas Classic at Goodman Gym.
Rich hit only 7 of her 30 shots, but she finished with a game-high 16 points and won tournament MVP honors.
“It was just weird because yesterday I was doing real good shooting, then tonight I couldn’t throw it in the ocean from the outside,” Rich said.
“They just told me to go inside with it more so I could get my free throws.
“I was very excited that we got this, I know it means so much to our seniors. I just hope we can do it again when I’m a senior.”
Rich missed 16 of her first 17 shots from the floor, then came to life in the third quarter. Christal MacLamroc, who also earned all-tournament honors, had steals on two straight possessions and fed Rich for fast-break layups.
Rich’s second lay-in put East ahead 24-19 with 3:56 left in the third.
There were four lead changes early in the fourth quarter, and South tied the game at 31-all on a free throw by Mandy Yost with 4:51 left.
Rich, taking a pass from point guard Tiffany Ingold, hit a jumper from the left wing with 3:33 left to give East the lead for good.
“We just kept trying to get Maggie to calm down,” East coach Randy Bingham said.“She’s still young. She’s not going to score 30 every night, and she realizes that.”
The Raiders didn’t score again and couldn’t get the ball out of East’s hands at the end of the game.
Jordan Huffman scored with 2:32 left to put the Mustangs ahead 35-31, and South attempted only one more shot the rest of the game.
The Mustangs missed a foul shot with 52.7 seconds left but got a steal five seconds later and hung onto the ball for the rest of the contest
MacLamroc was fouled and hit one free throw with 20.8 seconds left, and Maggie Rich rebounded the second miss. East ran out the clock without getting fouled.
“We wanted to foul, the kids just didn’t foul when we needed them to foul,”South coach James Greene said. “I think they gave us their all, 110-percent, and that’s all we ask them to give.”
MacLamroc played a vital role for the Mustangs by scoring 11 points. The senior guard scored five points in the first two minutes of the game, and the team scored only 11 more for the rest of the first half.
East, which missed 20 straight shots after MacLamroc’s two buckets, connected on only 6 of 41 field goals in the first 16 minutes,
South made only 8 of 28 attempts as the teams went to the locker room tied at 16-all.
“It was really tough, nothing would go down,” MacLamroc said. “But we just kept trying, kept putting it up there, and it just finally started going in.”
Said Bingham,“This was probably one of the worst shooting games by both teams that I’ve ever seen. But midway through the second quarter, I realized those kids were playing defense as hard as they could play. You just hope and pray that the other team doesn’t get hot.”
The Raiders didn’t get hot, but their hard work on the boards and tough defense on Rich kept them in the game.
Sade Jordan finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Raiders, and Paris Rucker scored eight points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
The Raiders stayed in Rich’s face all night and had a big part in the fact that she missed her first nine shots of the game.
“We were not going to let her drive that baseline, and we were going to make her work for her shots,”Greene said. “I think we made her work for her shots.”
Rich finally found her touch, though, and got some much-needed help from a supporting cast of seniors, such as MacLamroc, that wanted to go out as winners.
“It’s great,”MacLamroc said. “It’s our senior year, and we’ve wanted this ever since we started playing. It’s just great.”
SOUTH ROWAN (31) — Jordan 10, Rucker 8, Blackwood 6, Yost 3, Parker 2, Durant 2, Willett, Mack, Russell.
EAST ROWAN (36) — Rich 16, MacLamroc 11, Huffman 8, Haynes 1, Ingold.
South Rowan 8 8 9 6 — 31
East Rowan 7 9 11 9 — 36
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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