MADISON — It wasn’t pretty, but the Madison girls basketball team fended off a late scare to hold off Mountain Valley Conference foe Mt. Abram 51-38 on Friday night at Veneziano’s Gym.
Sophomore guard Mackenzie Robbins led the Bulldogs (8-4) with 14 points, while fellow sophomore Raegan Cowan added 12 points. Junior guard Kylee Furbush chipped in with eight points for Madison.
“After coming off a tough loss to Valley (on Jan. 21), this was a good (win) for us,” Robbins said.
Senior guard Abi Wilcox led the Roadrunners (5-7) with 13 points, while sophomores Bailea Haines and Kharlie Turner each added seven points.
Mt. Abram head coach Lanie Roy said she was proud of her team, playing a second consecutive night due to weather postponements, to fight back from a 23-point deficit at one point in the third quarter, to bringing the game within nine points in the fourth.
“We were happy to be within 10, that was great,” Roy said. “Madison is a great team, they’ve had a good program for forever. I’m happy with the way the girls played. We’re tired, we’ve had a lot of back-to-back games recently. But I’m happy they came back within 10.”
Robbins scored 11 of her 14 points in the first half, leading the Bulldogs to a comfortable 27-14 lead at halftime.
“We have a lot of good guards,” Robbins said. “We use our speed to our advantage.”
“I thought we had a lot of intensity in the first half,” Madison head coach Al Veneziano said. “We did some good things there. We got into a little bit of foul trouble. We’ve got to try some people (off the bench) and play them, I think it worked out OK.”
That lead lengthened to 23 points in the third quarter, thanks to a 9-0 run to start the second half. But Mt. Abram, which held an edge on Madison in rebounding throughout the game, would not go down quietly.
Madison’s Raegan Cowen (14) dives over Mt. Abram’s McKenzie Contreras (11) for the loose ball during a girls basketball Friday in Madison. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
A 7-0 run late in the third by the Roadrunners brought Madison’s lead to 41-25 entering the fourth.
“We’ve got big girls, but we’re young,” Roy said. “We’re working them in, but (trying to teach them) boxing out, finishing those rebounds. Madison is a fast team, keeping up with them was tough. And in back-to-back games, that’s hard to do.”
Thanks to scoring from Wilcox, Haines and freshman guard Jenna Osgood, Mt. Abram chipped away at Madison. The Bulldogs held a 45-36 lead midway through the final period. But key baskets from sophomore Ella Haynie and junior Ali Griffeth sealed the victory for Madison.
Madison is now 5-4 in its last nine games, after a 3-0 start to the season.
“I think we’ve got guards who can handle the ball pretty well,” Veneziano said. “Pressing us has been tough for some (teams). We want to break (defenses) off the dribble, ball screens, see if we can beat teams to the basket. We’ve got to play defense, though.”
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