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Junior shooting guard Z’riah Solomon scored a game-winning layup to push the Ladycats to a 30-29 victory over the Shaw Lady Raiders.

Bainbridge got possession of the ball with 30 seconds left in the game, trailing 28-29. The team took it down the court and ran a deigned play for Solomon at the rim. The play developed, and the junior shooting guard caught a pass in the paint. She threw up a contested shot, the ball took one bounce on the rim, and went in. The layup put Bainbridge up by one with 15 second left. The Ladycats kept Shaw from scoring on the other end of the court, and the final buzzer sounded. Bainbridge wins.

“I knew I could do it,” Solomon said. “If they got the ball in my possession, I felt like I was able to put it in the hoop for the win.”

The game-winner came at the end of a high-scoring fourth quarter for the Ladycats. They scored sixteen points — more than half of their game total — in the quarter and started the quarter on a 10-0 run.

Ladycats Head Coach Daniel Evans gave props to his players’ mental toughness in the late-game comeback.

“You’ve got to keep them level,” Evans said. “they have to deal with so much outside of basketball… you can’t get emotional from the standpoint that you want to shut down. That’s part of the battle.”

It was a game of runs for the Ladycats. 19 of their 30 points came from uncontested runs. They went on a 9-0 run from the end of the second quarter through the start of the third quarter, then went on their 10-0 comeback run in the fourth quarter.

The win over the Lady Raiders gave the Ladycats a 2-1 record on the week. They beat Early County Tuesday, Jan. 2 and suffered a loss to Westover Friday, Jan 5. Evans said he challenges the team to “win every week” and that the win against Shaw will propel them as they try to win the week ahead of them.

The first challenge of the new week is a home game against Thomas County Central. The matchup against the Lady Yellow Jackets tips off at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 9.