By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
JACKSONVILLE – Sand Rock junior forward Maddie Clanton quite literally gave everything she had for the Lady Wildcats against second-ranked Pisgah in the Class 2A Northeast Regional semifinals at Jacksonville State University’s Pete Mathews Coliseum Tuesday.
And then some.
With a little over a minute to go and having played the entire game, Clanton was at the free-throw line. After making her shots, she hurriedly ran off the court sick at her stomach.
“It hit me on that free throw. I was like ‘I’ve got to go.’ I was sort of gagging,” Clanton said. “That was so embarrassing.”
“There was like a minute left, and I looked out there and she was not on the floor,” Sand Rock coach Lisa Bates said. “She can say I played so hard I had to run off the court and puke.”
Clanton may have been embarrassed to miss the final moments of her team’s season on the court, but she didn’t have anything to hang her head about regarding the way she played.
The rest of her teammates didn’t either.
Clanton led the fourth-ranked Lady Wildcats with 16 points and 16 rebounds in their season-ending 69-48 loss.
“I’m proud of my girls tonight. We’re not leaving any effort to be desired,” Sand Rock coach Lisa Bates said. “I felt like we were strong. We fought hard inside. We fought to rebound.
“Pisgah is a good team. We knew they had many weapons. When so many people can shoot the ball that well it’s tough, but I was proud of my girls for playing hard all the way to the end.”
Sand Rock (23-11) made Pisgah (24-8) work for a hard-fought win. They led only by a 16-14 margin at the end of the first quarter, and just by seven at 31-24 at halftime.
But the Lady Eagles began to get some separation early in the third quarter off back-to-back 3-pointers by Paisley Patalas and Alli Romans that put them up 13 at 37-24.
“That’s what kind of broke it open,” Bates said. “I thought at halftime we were where we wanted to be. That was crucial for breaking it open, but I feel like we continued to play hard all the way throughout and didn’t give up.”
For the game, Pisgah sank 12 treys. Romans hit four of them, while Campbell Barron connected on three. Barron led the Lady Eagles with 23 points. Romans delivered 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Ella Samples and Taylor Bell both sank a pair of treys and scored 10 points apiece. Patalas finished with eight points.
Macey Pruitt posted nine points for Sand Rock. Kaylee Burns managed seven points and 10 boards. Paitlyn Hughes also finished with seven points.
“I’m never pleased with losing, but when you lose to a team that shoots like that, and we give it all we’ve got, I don’t feel like we’re leaving here with regrets,” Bates said.
