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Lanesia Verdell
Stephens County Middle School eighth grader Lanesia Verdell made a steal and scored in the waning seconds against Franklin County to give the Lady Rebels a 24-23 win here last Thursday.
The late shot that led to the win was even more monumental for the eighth-grade bunch, according to coach Jeremy Stowe.
“That was super exciting,” Stowe said. “For one thing, we struggled in the past few years. This team had no wins going into this season while they have been at the middle school. Now they have pulled off two major upsets here at home. “So we beat Madison the other day in a big upset. They were No. 1 in the region and Franklin County was like No. 1 or No. 2 in the region tonight. So we bumped the top two teams in the region at home these last two home games,” Stowe said. “So it’s exciting. Very exciting for the girls. Like I said, they never won a game here until this year. So they went through their whole middle school career not winning a game and now they won two major games here at home I am so excited for them,” Stowe said.
In the big win for the Lady Rebels, Daisy Barker was the leading scorer with 10 points.
Lanesia Verdell added six points in the triumph. It was a tightly contested game in the first quarter when the Lady Cubs took a 5-4 lead at the end of the period. FCMS continued to grow that lead and held a 14-8 advantage at the half. That led to Stowe challenging his team at intermission.
“I came in at halftime. We were down and I challenged them at halftime to come back out here and play the game we know how to play and how we practiced which is high intensity every single day,” Stowe said. “I told them if we play like we practice, then we will come back to win this ball game. I challenged them. They stepped up to it and we did it tonight,” he said.
At the end of the third quarter, the Lady Rebels trailed 20-13. However, the fourth quarter belonged to the Lady Rebels. The Lady Rebels went on a 5-0 run to open the final period and trim the deficit to 20-18. SCMS found itself down 22-20 late in the fourth. Aviyonia Wiakfield of SCMS went to the line with 57 seconds left. She hit both of her free throws to tie the game at 22 apiece. Seconds later Lady Rebel Verdell, came up with a steal and started driving to the hoop where she made a layup to make it a 24-23 SCMS lead with 39 seconds left.
“I felt excited. I was ecstatic,” Verdell said of her clutch play.
After the clutch play, the Lady Cubs still had a few more opportunities to take the game away from the Lady Rebels. The Lady Rebels managed to get the ball back, but were called for a charging foul giving the ball back to Franklin. With 25 seconds remaining, Franklin was fouled, but was not in the bonus. After the foul, SCMS managed to get the ball back but ended up turning over the ball out of bounds. FCMS then attacked the rim and Franklin’s Keegan Bell was fouled. Bell went to the line with four seconds left and missed her first attempt. The second shot was off the mark and the Lady Rebels held on for four more seconds to get the victory. Stowe said he was proud of his team’s performance and the play of his clutch player.
“She is a big-time player. When the times get rough, that is when she steps up,” Stowe said. “She is a big-time player.”