Elise Coberly scored a game high of 24 points Tuesday night versus Lumpkin County, but 20 of those points were all she needed to reach her 1000th career point.
With 5:36 left in the third quarter, Coberly drilled a three-pointer for career point number 1,001. The last Lady Raider to reach the 1,000 mark was Courtney Freeman, who continued her career at Appalachian State. Coberly’s 24 points led the Lady Raiders (14-8, 4-1) to a 65-40 home win over the 4-19 Indians. Macy Rutledge followed with 13 points and Nekeia Brown added nine.
The Lady Raiders led the entire night and were never threatened by an under-matched Lumpkin County team. Coberly and Rutledge put on a three-point shooting display in the opening quarter. Coberly drilled three three-pointers and Rutledge added two treys to put Madison County on the winning path. The Lady Raiders led 22-5 after one quarter and enjoyed a 34-20 lead at the break.
Leading 41-25 midway through the third period, Coberly’s three-pointer broke the 1,000-point mark and gave the Lady Raiders a demanding 44-24 lead. Emmy Fouche then added to the offensive performance by scoring six unanswered points, extending the lead to 50-25. Madison County finished the drill by holding the Lady Indians to just eight fourth quarter points.
Now Madison County will turn its attention to Stephens County, who the Lady Raiders will face in Toccoa Friday at 7 p.m., and Eastside, who will visit Madison County at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“We know what we get from Stephens,” said Lady Raider head coach Dan Lampe. “They have two freshmen that make them go. And they’re going to pressure us. If we handle the pressure, we win. If we don’t, we lose. It’s pretty simple.”
The Madison County coach said “Eastside is very athletic, tall and long.”
“They press a lot, but they’re not very skilled offensively,” said Lampe. “So if we let them beat us on the boards, or we let them beat us by turning the ball over, we’re going to be in for a long night. But if we box out and run our stuff against them, we should do well.”
North Oconee 53 Madison County 42
In other action this past week, the Lady Raiders fell for the second time this season to North Oconee Saturday.
The Lady Titans (18-2) defeated Madison County 51-44 in Watkinsville earlier this season and completed the sweep with a 53-42 victory Saturday.
“They’re just a solid team,” said Lampe of North Oconee. “Everybody can dribble. Everybody can shoot the three. Everybody can make their layups. We have to play one of our better games to beat them. But we just put them to the foul line too many times and weren’t good with our defensive rotations.”
North Oconee hit 25 free throws in the weekend win.
Though the game ended in a Lady Raider loss, Madison County controlled the action early, pulling out to a 15-8 first quarter lead.
The Lady Raider defense kept the Titans’ inside game in check the entire eight minutes. The Lady Titans only connected on three of their 11 first quarter shots.
And Elise Coberly led Madison County to a 10-4 lead early after dropping in back-to-back three-pointers. With two seconds left in the quarter, Samiah Bush scored in an inside shot to put the Lady Raiders on top 15-8.
But North Oconee woke up in the second period, going on a 17-0 run to take a 25-17 lead into intermission. Coberly hit two free throws for Madison County’s only second quarter points.
To add to the Lady Raiders’ troubles, Emmy Fouche went down with a knee injury and never returned to the contest.
But Lampe said Fouche was walking the halls without a limp early this week and avoided serious injury.
The Lady Raiders rallied early in the third quarter to close the margin to 30-27. Macy Rutledge nailed a shot to open a 10-4 run, but Amelia Dye drilled a three-pointer for North Oconee with 2:33 remaining to change the momentum.
Rutledge then connected on a three-pointer at the 6:01 mark of the final period to cut the margin to 41-33. North Oconee sealed the win by hitting 11 of 15 free throws in the final quarter.
Coberly led Madison County with 16 points followed by 11 from Nekeia Brown.
Lampe said Coberly turned in a gutsy performance.
“When their total focus point was to stop her (Coberly), she’s just working so hard,” said Lampe. “Nekeia really worked hard too in the paint. We just didn’t give her very good passes.”
