By Thomas Grant Jr.
School history awaits Molly Goodrich in the new year.
The next victory will give her sole ownership of the title winningest girls’ basketball coach in school history.
Goodrich currently shares the honor with Lexington alumnus David Long with 156 career wins. Her first opportunity to surpass him will be Jan. 3 at home against Cardinal Newman.
“It would have been nice to wrap up the record before the new year because that would mean we had one more win this pre-season,” Goodrich said. “ However, just to have the opportunity to be the winningest coach at Lexington is pretty neat and I’m just happy I have the chance to accomplish this at such an amazing school with amazing athletes.”
Goodrich tied the record with two victories to claim the Pink bracket of the school’s Christmas Classic on Dec. 23.
Lexington also entered the tournament Dec. 21 looking to rebound from a 59-57 road loss to Spring Valley two nights earlier. The Lady Wildcats led as many as 10 points before getting held scoreless over the final 2:30.
The Lady Vikings won on a 3-pointer with four seconds left by Lauren Crosland.
“Spring Valley was definitely a tough loss, but we left that locker room choosing to learn from our loss and not make excuses. We know what we need to work on and the girls got right back at it the next day. We just want to continue to get better and that loss…as tough as it was…made us better.”
The Lady Wildcats opened the Classic with a 74-22 win Lakewood. This set up a final matchup with Fort Mill, which defeated Westwood 63-47.
Lexington took a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Player of the Year Sydni Anderson accounted for 10 points and finished with a game-high 25.
The Lady Yellow Jackets opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run sparked by Kate Marker who finished with 17 points.
Charlize Misick-Rivas scored six of her seven points during a 13-2 run to give Lexington a 29-21 lead. Fort Mill got within 29-26 at halftime.
The teams traded leads several times in the second half before going into overtime tied at 51-51. Izzy Saville opened the extra period with a 3-pointer. After a spinning jumper by Colbie Wolfe, the Lady Yellow Jackets were outscored 6-0 the rest of the way.
Along with helping Goodrich tie the school mark, the Lady Wildcats’ varsity team earned their first bracket championship in the Classic’s four-year history. Meanwhile, the junior varsity team won the Teal division for its fourth tournament title.
“Both are great and our goal was to win our division this year and the girls fought hard against a great Fort Mill team to bring home the trophy!,” she said.
Feature Photo: Lexington girls basketball coach Molly Goodrich instructs her team during a timeout against Fort Mill.
Photos by Thomas Grant Jr.
