JF completes sweep of Amherst on Ratliff's late trey

AMHERST — Jefferson Forest sophomore guard Cassidy Ratliff’s 3-point jumper from the left wing broke a 37-37 tie and senior Anna Carter sank 3-of-4 foul shots down the stretch to help the Cavaliers secure a 43-40 victory over host Amherst in the second game of Monday night’s Seminole District tournament Division 4 semifinals.

"We had to knock down free throws at the end," JF coach Paul Redgate said. "With the game on the line, I was happy with Anna Carter on the free throw line. She’s shooting 80 percent from the foul line. I was very confident in her and she proved me right."

Carter led all scorers with 16 points as the Cavaliers won for the seventh time in the last eight games.

The Lancers nearly forced overtime, but point guard Kami Marshall’s 3-point attempt before the buzzer hit the back of the iron and bounced out.

"Unfortunately, it’s not always a storybook ending, but Kami Marshall played out of her mind all season and hopefully will use this as motivation," Amherst second-year coach Seger Jordan said.

The Lancers (13-10) made dramatic improvement over last season, when they ended a three-and-a-half-season losing skid.

"I thought we were going to have to go into overtime. I was so excited," said freshman Debra Ferguson, who scored 12 points to pace the Lancers. "We’ve come so far from only winning two games last year that it would really have been a sweet victory."

When Forest hosted Amherst, Jan. 30 at home, the Cavaliers completely shut down the Lancers’ twin towers of Alex Goldman and Ferguson in a 44-17 rout.

"Last time we played JF, they really put the kibosh on Debra and Alex," Jordan said. "This was the first time it’s actually been close."

In Monday night’s rematch, Goldman and Ferguson were much bigger impact players, combining for more than half of their points and the majority of their rebounding.

"They didn’t score on us the last game we played," Redgate said. "Tonight, they both had excellent games. Those two are definitely a force to be reckoned with and they’re tough to stop, especially on the offensive glass."

"We try to work together as much as possible because we’re the two biggest girls in the district," added Ferguson, a freshman. "We should be unstoppable. We are unstoppable most of the time."

Redgate again had the Cavaliers use a collapsing 2-3 zone on Amherst’s big girls, with senior forward Anna Carter and sophomore center Amber Evans as well as Kaila Reese and Jessica O’Bryant fronting or backing them up.

"Usually, even if they don’t have the ball, we like to have one in front and one behind," Redgate said. "Our initial defense was really good on them. What hurt us was when they were getting second and third shots, because they would usually convert them."

Jordan urged his guards, particularly Marshall, who hit two 3s, to shoot from the perimeter with confidence to try to draw out JF’s packed-in 2-3 defense.

"We came out shooting a couple 3s and maybe that helped extend their defense a little bit, and then, once that opens it up, Debra and Alex are able to be a little bit more successful," Jordan said.

But after Ferguson finished a second offensive rebound putback in the left side of the lane, putting the Lancers on top 19-16, Ratcliff made a back-court steal and layup and Carter finished the first-half scoring by picking up a loose-ball rebound and taking it the length of the court for a layup, putting JF up 21-19 before the buzzer.

"That’s one of our specialties, the transition game," said JF point guard Erin McKeague, who finished with six assists, setting up Ratliff’s winning 3.

Heritage 65, E.C. Glass 45