Published: February 06, 2008 09:43 am         

Mountain Ridge survives Frankfort rally

FROSTBURG - Madi Nightengale scored 19 points and Mountain Ridge survived a late-game rally from Frankfort to earn a 57-46 win Tuesday night at Mountain Ridge High School.

The Miners led by 11 points in the third quarter but the Falcons narrowed the gap to four late in the fourth. However, Mountain Ridge made its free throws and a couple of key baskets down the stretch to earn the victory.

Nightengale finished with six rebounds and 9-of-15 shooting from the foul line. Holly Williams chipped in 11 points and Maura Jones grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

"It's a good team win for us tonight," said Miner coach Valery Broadwater. "The last time we played Frankfort we lost by 25, so this is a little redemption for us.

"Our guards played well tonight as a whole and I thought we played some great team defense. Diane (Dayton) hurt us last time we played and I thought Danielle (McGinnis) played well against her. The other girls also played well in sliding over and helping on defense."

Frankfort had three players in double figures. Aira Whiteman led the Falcons with 14 points followed by Diane Dayton with 12 points and Rachel Alkire with 11. As a team, Frankfort was 21-of-30 from the free-throw line while Dayton and Whiteman each made eight.

Mountain Ridge led by 13 points (40-27) early in the fourth but Frankfort cut it to four twice, the last coming on a free throw with 1:36 left. From there, the Miners used two baskets and seven free throws down the stretch to extend their lead back to double digits, this time 11 as the game ended.

"We're not playing well right now and we're out of rhythm," said Falcon coach Erin McKenzie. "It's going to be tough until we can get our rhythm back.

"I have to commend my bench players this evening. They brought the score to within six late and they really played well for us."

The first quarter was a close battle by both teams as Mountain Ridge led by as many as four (9-5) with 1:11 left in the quarter. The second resembled the first as neither team was able to pull ahead until the Miners hit back-to-back baskets to take a five-point lead (17-12) with 2:38 remaining.

With 30 seconds left until halftime, Nightengale made a layup to push the Mountain Ridge lead to six (22-16) and Maura Jones hit a free throw with eight seconds left as the Miners led by seven (23-16). Frankfort ended the first half scoring with a free throw as the team's headed for the break with Mountain Ridge up 23-17.

Mountain Ridge opened its first double-digit lead of the contest, 27-17, just under three minutes into the third quarter. The Miners led by as many as 11 during the period and ended the quarter up 10, 36-26.