By Jon Buie
Tribune Correspondent

CUMBERLAND—Stephanie Fazenbaker had two key steals and three clutch free-throws over the last two minutes to lift the Mountain Ridge Lady Miners over the Ft. Hill Lady Sentinels Monday night in Cumberland.
The Lady Miners won the opening tip, but it was the Lady Sentinels who struck first as Alyssia Twigg hit the turnaround jumper off a Miner turnover just 30 seconds in for the 2-0 lead. The Miners struck back quickly to take their first lead with Heather Shipe's three pointer from the right corner and would go up 4-2 as Shipe hit one of two free-throws after being fouled on a short jumper a minute later. The Sentinels would come right back and tie the score 4-4 with Mollie Mandell's jumper off an assist from Twigg. Both team s would then exchange baskets and free throws over the next four minutes until a three ball from Madi Nightengale,a free-throw from Erin Lewis and a foul line jumper would put the Lady Miners up 15-8 with 1:16 left in the first. Mandell would finish out the fist period scoring with a baseline jumper and it would be the Lady Miners with the 15-10 lead after one.
The second period opened with the Sentinels cutting to three just 20 seconds in with Twiggs putback of a Mandell miss. The Lady Miners would then go on a 7-2 run over the three minutes capped by Nightengales three-pointer from the right side for the 22-15 leads at the 4:15 mark. The Lady Sentinels would then put together a 10-0 run of their own book ended by a pair of baseline jumpers by Mandell that would cut the score put her team up by three, 25-22 with a minute left in the first half. A jumper by Nightengale would cut the lead to one before Mandell would hit a turnaround to increase the Sentinel lead back to three with 25 seconds left. After a Miner miss and with time running out Destiny James grabbed the rebound and turned up court, her three pointer from three-quarter court at the buzzer was all net and the Lady Sentinels headed to the locker room with the 30-24 lead after two periods
The second half opened with the Lady Miners with Shae Winner hitting the layup off a Fazenbaker assist just 15 seconds in that would be the start of a 10-4 run over the next 5 minutes capped by a jumper and a pair of frr-throws by Nightengale to tie it up 34 all with 3:20 left. Both teams would go cold over the next 1:30 until Courtney Koelker would hit a three ball with 40 seconds left to finish the third frame scoring with the Sentinels up 37-34.
 The nights final period would see neither team being able to build a lead larger than 3 points as there would be two ties and two lead changes over the first four and a half minutes. Mandell would open up the Sentinels largest lead of the period when she would put her team up by four points with short jumper off an assist from Samantha Frankenberry with 2:30 left to play. That would be all the Sentinels could manage as following a free-throw by Fazenbaker and a pair of free-throws by Heather Shipe, the Sentinel lead would be down to one at 46-45 with 1:30 to play. The Sentinels would see their lead slipaway as Fazenbaker would pick their pocket on the next possession and Winner would be fouled and would hit one off two to knot it up at 46-46 at the :55 mark. The Lady Sentinels would turn it over once more as Fazenbaker's sticky fingers grabbed the pass to the front courtt, Shipe would miss a three and Winner would miss the follow on the offensive board, The Lady Sentinels would regain possessionn put would quickly lose it out of bounds with nine seconds left. Following a Miner timeout, Fazenbaker would drive the lane for a layup that would rim out put would get the foul. With 3.7 seconds left Fazenbaker would coolly step to the line and put both free-throws through for the 48-46 lead. The Lady Sentinelsss would get one last chance but Madi Nightengale would steal the inbounds pass and the Lady Miners would come away with the hard fought 48-46 win.
Madi Nightengale would lead the Lady Miners with 20 points, Heather Shipe would add 10. Fort Hill was led by Mandell with 18 points.
Mountain Ridge (12-5) next host Hampshire Wednesday at 7:30.