As the schedule gets tougher, Madison County’s girls’ basketball team seemingly does too.
The Lady Raiders beat region foe Salem 56-39 at home Tuesday, whipping what coach Dan Lampe called the “cream of the crop” of Region 8-AAAA.
This came after Madison County routed no. 4 Jonesboro Nov. 24.
“Yeah, I think it bodes well for us,” Lampe said. “I think the girls have bought into ‘defense first’ again.”
The Lady Raiders held Jonesboro to just 32 points last week and then used their defensive pressure to frustrate and rattle the Lady Seminoles (4-1) Tuesday night, especially at the three-point line where Salem went scoreless.
“They didn’t get one all night,” Lampe said. “We just stayed up in their chest the entire night. They didn’t a clean look.”
The Lady Raiders still haven’t surrendered more than 40 points in a game this year.
The victory Tuesday was Madison County’s third in a row, and came over a team that won 23 games last year and went undefeated in the region in the regular season.
The Lady Raiders, who led 26-16 at the half and 42-27 after three quarters, dispersed their offense evenly with three different scorers reaching double figures.
Kayla Freeman led Madison County with 14 points and Shantydra Arnold and Lauren Smith, both had 12. Sam LaZear added eight points.
While the offense is improving, Lampe is still waiting for the Lady Raider offense to click like the defense has so far.
“If I were rating it, I would say maybe a C+,” Lampe said. “We’re getting good shots, but we’re just not dropping them consistently yet.”
Madison County has improved from the free throw line, however, hitting 12-of-16 attempts against Salem in its best night from the charity stripe so far this season.
The Lady Raiders now seek their fourth-straight victory when they return to action Friday against what should be an improved Monroe Area outfit.
A night later, the Lady Raiders host Brookwood, an up-tempo high-scoring team.
Madison County then plays Tuesday against a Heritage team that lost four of its five starters from last year’s squad.
Lampe hopes to see the same kind of defense he saw Tuesday night as the Lady Raiders move forward.
“Salem truly got frustrated,” Lampe said. “They had nowhere to go. They couldn’t score. The only stuff they got was really junk stuff.”
•MCHS 58, Jonesboro 32 (Nov. 24): Kayla Freeman picked a good night to have her biggest offensive game of the young season.
Freeman tallied 21 points in last Tuesday’s (Nov. 24) 58-32 victory over Jonesboro in Danielsville as Madison County went 2-0 in its own tip-off tournament.
“She definitely picked it up when needed,” coach Dan Lampe said.
But Lampe was more impressed with Freeman’s defensive effort.
“She probably got three or four steals in that game just being on help-side defense taking away the lob pass,” he said.
Coming off a lackluster victory over Newton County, the Lady Raiders only trailed twice briefly against Jonesboro (2-1) – both in the first half – in an otherwise dominating effort.
“I felt it was almost due to our defense,” Lampe said. “The first two games I felt we were laying back and letting people do what they wanted to do offensively … This game we came out and dictated what we wanted to do.”
Led by Freeman’s 14 second-half points, the Lady Raiders outscored the Lady Cardinals 35-17 over the final two quarters to claim an easy win over a team that went 30-2 last year and reached the Class AAAA Final Four.
“I think that sometimes, our group needs somebody to get up for,” Lampe said. “It’s not good that that has to be the way, but it’s good that when it is a big game, they show up.”
Madison County got a boost from its backcourt with Sam LaZear adding 11 points and Molly Glaze scoring seven, including two three-pointers.
Glaze’s three-pointer at the 4:01 in the first quarter was the Lady Raiders’ first of the season.
Her second, coming with 1:45 left in the first half, opened up a 21-13 lead for Madison County.
“Our sophomores really scored well,” Lampe said. “Our seniors were in foul trouble for most of the night, so I was really impressed to see that … that bodes well for the future.”
The Lady Raiders, who led 23-15 at the half, built a 35-24 edge after three quarters and ended the game with an 18-4 run in the fourth quarter to turn the game into a rout.
Freeman scored nine of her 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Madison Co. 58, Jonesboro 32 (Nov. 24)
JHS 8 7 9 8 – 32
MCHS 9 14 12 23 – 58
Scorers: Freeman 21, LaZear 11, Glaze 7, Arnold 5, Smith 5, Fleming 4, Coberly 2, Moon 2, Whieldon 1
Madison Co. 56, Salem 39 (Dec. 1)
SHS 8 8 11 12 — 39
MCHS 13 13 16 14 — 56
Scorers: Freeman 14, Smith 12, Arnold 12, LaZear 8, Glaze 4, Chappell 4, Brown 2
