ORANGE — A week and a half layoff didn’t seem to faze top-seeded Orange County girls basketball on Thursday night as it rolled past No. 4 Halifax County in the Conference 16 semifinals.
The Hornets shined on defense and got a boost from Lindsey Slaughter’s explosive 3-point performance in the 64-47 victory that clinched a Region 5A North playoff berth.
Slaughter, a freshman, drained seven threes on the night, including six in the second half, to pace Orange with 23 points.
“You hit a three, it really doesn’t matter what the score is, the crowd gets excited,” Orange coach David Rabe said. “We had very loud students, and when they started getting into it, that only helps us on the defensive end to feed off that energy. When it happens several times in a row, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Orange (20-4) held a four-point lead at halftime, but the Comets climbed their way back into it with some solid perimeter shooting of their own. Back-to-back threes by Lakia Martin and Ghanija Gooden gave the visitors a 36-34 advantage. Then Martin followed with consecutive baskets to extend the lead to 40-34. Martin, a senior guard, poured in a game-high 24 points.
The Hornets quickly erased the deficit as Slaughter found her groove and began a barrage of threes. The sharpshooter sparked an 18-0 run which spanned the third and fourth quarters. Slaughter was nearly unstoppable, hitting four consecutive threes in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
“She got the ball rolling,” Rabe said. “Luckily she hit a couple more and it just kept rolling.”
Orange was also solid defensively and contained Martin in the fourth. The Hornets found their rhythm on the offensive end, and used their crisp passing to get some easy baskets inside.
“Offensively I think we settled for threes too much, which got us into trouble so I had to remind them to attack the rim,” Rabe added. “When we were able to actually penetrate we did a good job of bounce passes and taking care of the ball, and passing at the top when we needed to.”
Kiani Hudgens finished with 13 points and five assists, while Lexi Lomax reached double figures with 10 points to go along with four assists. Laine Harrington, who did a solid job guarding Martin late in the game, pulled down nine rebounds and dished out five assists. Sincere Cook added seven points.
Gooden and Melissa Boyd contributed nine points apiece for the Comets.
Orange plays host to Atlee, a winner over Patrick Henry (Ashland), in the conference title game Friday at 7 p.m.
