Auburn gave a great effort, but the Lady Tigers couldn't ground Lewisburg's season-long magic carpet ride. The Lady Rangers held off Auburn 26-21 Friday to finish a 19-2 season as champion of the Logan County Middle School Basketball Tournament at Logan County High School.
When Maegann Hardison made a steal and hit a free throw with 7.8 seconds remaining in the championship game, the championship was sealed for Coach Stephen Bender's top-seeded team. Hardison went three of four at the line in the fourth quarter, which was not the norm for the winners, who survived 6 of 15 free throw shotting in the last quarter.

Laura Hunt, one of only three eighth graders on the team, built a lead for her team in the second and third quarters, scoring 10 of her game-high 13 points in the middle frames. She was always in the right place for LMS and kept getting fouled.
Hardison scored four of Lewisburg's five first-quarter points and hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter. The other three points came from Breanna Baptiste, who hit a shot in the second quarter and from Michaela King, who got a free throw to fall in the final stanza.

Auburn came close at 18-14 when Kayla Sumner hit a 3-pointer late in the third quarter., but Hunt banked in a 13-footer for Lewisburg at the buzzer. Kapreisha Powell's 8-footer with two minutes remaining cut the LMS lead to 23-18, but Auburn couldn't get the momentum.

Sumner finished with nine points to lead the Lady Tigers, but Lewisburg was able to hold Powell to four points.

Championship Game
Score by Quarters: 1) LMS 5-2 2) 16-11 3) 20-14 Final) Lewisburg 26, Auburn 21
AMS (21) Kayla Sumner 9, Taiya Collier 4, Karah Vinzant 4, Kapreisha Powell 4, Adriana Hinojoza, Chandler Larson, Courtney McGinnis, Kallie Shoemake
LMS (26) Laura Hunt 13, Maegann Hardison 10, Breanna Baptiste 2, Michaela King 1, Hannah Statton, Carrie Douglas, Savannah Rogers

Thursday Semifinals
Coach Josh Hall's Auburn girls pulled off an upset by beating the second-seeded Lady Cardinals of Adairville 35-29. After Auburn built a 24-17 lead on two straight rebound buckets by Powell, the Adairville team came back. Rachel Shelton scored 6 of her 14 points in the third quarter while Deja Thompson and Maddie Abbott each hit a shot, as the Lady Cardinals took a brief lead and only trailed 26-25 going into the final period.

Powell built Auburn's lead to four, but Shelton hit a turn-around shot to cut the lead to 31-29 with 1:35 remaining. Adriana Hinajoza forced two Adairville turnovers, and Powell hit two more foul shots. Tanja Collier forced another turnover, and Hinajoza scored on an inbounds play with 23 seconds remaining for the final score.

Powell was a dynamic rebounder and scored 20 points, including going four of seven at the line. Karah Vinzant hit a basket in each of the first three quarters. Abbott had 6 points in support of Shelton for Coach Todd Webb's team.

Score by Quarters: 1) AMS 9-8 2) 18-15 3) 26-25 Final) Auburn 35, Adairville 29
AuMs (35) Powell 20, Vinzant 6. Sumner 5, Collier 2, Hinojoza 2, McGinnis, Alyssa Gordon
AdMS (29) Rachel Shelton 14, Maddie Abbott 6, Deja Thompson 5. Princess Yates 4, Kelly Costello, Courtney McReynolds, Aiana Hallman, Tessa Davenport

Monday Semifinals
Lewisburg's Hannah Statton hit three of her four fourth-quarter free throws and went four of six for the game. Hunt scored a game-high 14 points in the Lady Rangers' 30-23 win over Olmstead.. Hunt hit 6 of the winners' 10 field goals with Hardison getting three to fall in the second quarter. Her scoring spree helped LMS outscore the Lady Bears 13-2 in that decisive second period. Savannah Rogers went two for two at the line in that quarter. Baptiste scored in that second period, too.

This was a game Olmstead could have won by hitting free throws. The Lady Rams were a frigid 9 of 27 at the line, even though Madison Alvis hit half of her 10 chances on the way to a team-high nine points. Megan Lindsey scored eight points, including five in the fourth quarter. Logan Williamson hit the game's only 3-pointer in Olmstead's 13-point fourth period.

Score by Quarters: 1) 5-5 2) LMS 18-7 3) 22-10 Final) Lewisburg 30, Olmstead 23
OMS (23) Madison Alvis 9, Megan Lindsey 8, Logan Williamson 3, Ciena Johnson 3, Rachel Barnett, Taleia Mason, Taylor Borders, Kameron Higgins, Claire Wilson, Lee Ann Coots, Keedera Palacios, Maddie Bruner
LMS (30) Laura Hunt 14, Maegann Hardison 8, Hannah Statton 4, Savannah Rogers 2, Breana Baptiste 2, Douglas, King

Opening Round
This was the only game of the tournament, girls or boys that went into overtime. Cierra Johnson scored four points with Lindsey and Taleia Mason adding two each in an overtime period that Coach Bruce Alvis' team dominated 8-2. Chanler Steenbergen hit the Lady Bears' only basket in OT.

Olmstead hit seven more field goals than did the Lady Bears, but OMS struggled at the line in this one, too, getting just 9 of 25 free throws to go through the net, including 5 of 15 in the fourth quarter and 2 of 6 in the extra frame.

Rachel Barnett, who was held scoreless in the semifinals, led the Lady Rams in scoring in this win with 8 points. Lindsey and Johnson added 7 each, and Madison Alvis added 6.

Victoria Cates topped Chandlers with 10 points. Her 3-pointer in the fourth quarter proved to be a big factor in the game going into overtime. She was also 2 of 2 at the line in that frame. Steenbergen and Sierra Heath added 6 points each for Coach Kristi Porter's team..Kaelyn Adler joined Cates in hitting a 3-pointer. That one came in the first quarter when Chandlers built a 12-4 lead.

Olmstead took the second quarter 10-5 with Alvis scoring six and Barnett four. Barnett had four points in the fourth quarter. including hitting her team's only field goal during that six minutes.

Score by Quarters: 1) CMS 12-4 2) CMS 17-14 3) 20-20 4) 27-27 Final) Olmstead 35, Chandlers 29
CMS (29) Victoria Cates 10, Chanler Steenbergen 6, Sierra Heath 6, Kaelyn Adler 4, Desirae Powell 3
OMS (35) Rachael Barnett 8, Megan Lindsey 7, Cierra Johnson 7, Madison Alvis 6, Logan Williamson 3, Taleia Mason 2, Taylor Borders 2, Palacios