By Jason Queen
sports@salisburypost.com
LEXINGTON — When they cleaned the court after the girls’ game they no doubt found bits and pieces of heart all over the place — from both teams.
Salisbury defeated the Jackets 58-56 in a battle down to the wire.
With the scored knotted at 56-all, and Salisbury in possession with an inbounds play at midcourt, Brielle Blaire got the ball and drove hard to the basket for the game-winning layup at the buzzer.
“We wanted to make Blaire work hard,” said Lexington coach Lamont Johnson, whose team is 4-4 in the conference, 10-10 overall. “We weren’t necessarily going to let her beat us, but we forgot about Doreen (Richardson) and let her slip through the cracks. You can’t fall asleep on her.”
Richardson scored 27 points for the Hornets, now 8-0 in the CCC, 20-2 overall.
“I think if we had had a timeout at the end, we could have set up something,” said Johnson. “We wanted to double-team Blaire. I think you have to.
“But we didn’t and she went on to hit the game-wining shot.”
The Jackets tied the game at 54-54 on a 3-pointer from Jasmine Carter with 33 seconds on the clock. Carter then put Lexington up 56-54 with 24 seconds left to play, but the Hornets were strong down the stretch when they needed it.
Carter ended up with 19 points while Brittany Jones added 17 for the Jackets.
Blaire finished with 18 for the Hornets.
SALISBURY (58) — Richardson 27, B. Blaire 18, Connor 6, A. Blaire 5, Caldwell 2, Usry, Lattimore, Harris, Harmon.
LEXINGTON (56) —Carter 19, Jones 17, Fowler 6, Kelly 5, Wall 5, Ausborne 4.
Salisbury 10 21 9 18 — 58
Lexington 10 18 14 14 — 56