The Middlesboro girls basketball team looked like they were about to pick up a road victory against a highly-regarded team on Monday. Heading into halftime, the Lady Jackets held a 10-point lead over Williamsburg.

Things began to change in the second as the Williamsburg defense took center stage holding Middlesboro to single digits in both the third and fourth quarters. The home Jackets outscored Middlesboro by 16 points in the second half en route to a 37-31 victory.

“(Williamsburg) got up in our grill a little bit and got a little bit physical with us. We don’t handle physicality well. We can’t handle adversity, and we got a little shell shocked right there,” said Middlesboro coach Ron Edwards. “Give Williamsburg credit. They took us out of our offense. We have to get mentally tough. This one is on me. We should’ve never gave up a 10-point lead.

“We got to execute. We gave up some crucial turnovers. We missed a couple layups. We had a fast break where we threw the ball away, got steal and missed another layup. Those are 50-50 balls we got to get. We’re improving. We just got to get better, and we got to get mentally tough. When we get a little adversity we got to work through it.”

It was Lillie Hall that provided Williamsburg with the extra spark offensively down the stretch. Held scoreless in the first half, the sophomore guard scored all 13 of her points in the third and fourth quarter.

Kayla Gibson led the home Jackets in scoring with 16 points — six coming from three-point range. Lillie Abbott finished the night with four points.

Hannah Warren paced Middlesboro scoring a team-high 10 points while shooting 40 percent from the field. Baylee Woody finished the night with 10 points, while Lakin Burke chipped in six points off the bench.

Jamayha Poe finished one rebound shy of double figures after hauling in nine boards. Warren and Malorie Carter tallied four apiece.

Things began taking a turn for the worse early in the third for Middlesboro. Williamsburg went on an 11-0 run that gave the home Jackets a 23-22 lead with with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter.

Woody stopped the bleeding with a floater and a free throw that returned the lead to Middlebsoro, 25-23, at the end of the third.

Grace Moles opened the fourth with a jumper that extended the lead to four before Williamsburg went on an 8-0 run to take a 31-27 lead with little over three minutes remaining.

The visiting Jackets would lower the margin to 33-31 off a pair of Woody free throws, but that was as close at they would get. Williamsburg hit their free throws down the stretch to claim the six-point victory.

Up Next

Middlesboro (1-4) returns to action at 6 p.m. on Thursday when they welcome Claiborne, Tennessee.

Williamsburg (3-1) will host Lynn Camp (1-3) on Friday.

———

Williamsburg 37, Middlesboro 31

WILLIAMSBURG (3-1)

Kelsey Tye 0 0-0 0, Lillie Hall 3 6-8 13, Lillie Abbott 2 0-0 4, Kayla Gibson 6 2-3 16, Tori Lester 1 1-2 3, Madison Chapman 0 1-4 1. Totals: 12 10-17 37.

MIDDLESBORO (1-4)

Hannah Warren 4 0-0 10, Baylee Woody 2 5-8 9, Jaymaha Poe 0 2-3 2, Malorie Carter 0 2-2 2, Grace Moles 1 0-0 2, Lakin Burke 1 4-4 6. Totals: 9 13-17 31.

Williamsburg 7 5 11 14 — 37

Middlesboro 11 11 3 6 — 31

3-point goals: Williamsburg 3 (Gibson 2, Hall 1), Middlesboro 2 (Warren 2).

Reach Anthony Cloud at 606-302-9090 or on Twitter @AnthonyCloudMDN