LANETT — LaFayette sophomore Nadya Heard knocked down two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 40-38 win over Lanett on Friday night.

“I just looked out there, and I told her, ‘I believe in you,’” LaFayette girls head basketball coach Michael Bratcher said. “She looked at me, and just gave me this look with a smile. Then, she knocked them down, nothing but the bottom of the net. At the end of the game, I could just feel the joy she had because she knew that she had to step up and knock them down.”

Lanett got off to a 19-9 lead in the first quarter before LaFayette’s defense locked in and only allowed the Panthers to score two points in the second quarter. 

The Bulldogs shot a total of 29 free throws in the first half, compared to the Panthers’ two free throws in the first two quarters. The foul trouble came back to haunt Lanett in the second half. 

With many starters fouling out and senior guard Ambria Jackson re-aggravating her knee injury late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers closed the game with two eighth graders and a seventh-grader on the floor.

“The three middle schoolers are going to grow from this,” Lanett girls head basketball coach Charlie Williams said. 

“In three or four years from now, they’ll be able to handle this situation.”

LaFayette sophomore Feliah Greer led the Bulldogs in scoring with 22 points. Sophomore Ebony Williams finished with 9 points before fouling out in the second half, while sophomore Alahbra’J Todd and senior Daylan Wright also got on the board. Heard’s game-winning free throws were her only points on the night.

LaFayette returns to action on Tuesday night to host Horseshoe Bend, while Lanett hosts Loachapoka today.