The Lady City High School Lady Panthers got a miracle to defeat Marlboro County in the first round of the lower state basketball playoffs, but their season ended with Thursday’s 43-38 loss to Dreher.
Senior guard Alisha Graham led Lake City with 22 points on the night.
Down by as many as 17 points in the first half against Marlboro County Tuesday, the Lady Panthers turned up the defense and used their speed to frustrate a talented Marlboro County squad with a 42-40 victory.
The key point of the game came with a quick 11-2 run before halftime as the Lady Panthers cut the Bulldog lead to eight and carried momentum into the locker room. The second half saw a methodical chipping away at that lead before finally tying the ballgame 36-36 with three minutes left on a layup by Shanice Cooper. The Lady Panthers took a 38-36 lead with two minutes remaining on a two-point jumper by Cooper.
With a minute left, Marlboro County evened the score at 40 each. Lake City took possession on the ensuing inbound pass and milked the clock to 10 seconds before calling a timeout.
On the set inbound play, senior Graham darted to the bucket for a slashing layup to break the tie with two seconds left on the clock. The Marlboro inbound pass was intercepted to seal the win for Lake City.
Cooper was led all scorers with 25, and Graham added 10. Sherina Singletary pulled down 11 rebounds.

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