AUGUSTA — Jamie Plummer wasn’t worried.

When Hebron Academy made a late run Tuesday morning and closed the gap to two points against the top-seeded Richmond Bobcats, Plummer stayed cool.

“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind,” said Plummer, a sophomore center. “I knew we could do it. We just had to talk and play together. I knew if we got a couple easy rebounds and put the layups in or got some outside shots, we’d be fine.”

Plummer helped Richmond avoid a quarterfinal stunner against the Lumberjacks. She scored six points down the stretch as the Bobcats finished off Hebron for a 53-38 victory in a Western D quarterfinal.

Richmond (18-1) had to rally from behind early and then hold off the late Hebron (8-10) charge.

“We all played here last year,” said Plummer, who didn’t play in the regular-season 50-37 win over Hebron. “We were nervous, but most of us were excited. We knew we had to come out confident and intense. We knew we’d have it in the bag if we played as a team.”

Plummer finished with 25 points, while Brooke Lancaster had 11 and Payton Johnson chipped in with 10 off the bench. Hebron got 22 points from Janelle Bradish, along with 14 rebounds and five blocks. Olivia Brown added eight points.

“We had a great group of seniors this year,” said Hebron coach Colin Griggs, who lost guard Kaitlyn Paiton in the second half after she hit her head. “They worked real hard all year. We just ran out of steam and the injury at the beginning of the second half hurt us. We played well even without her for most of the game.”

Hebron trailed 36-27 early in the fourth, but produced an 9-2 run. Bradish had seven points, while Brown had a pair during that stretch. Bradish scored two straight and cut the lead to 38-36 with 5:18 left.

“Janelle was great,” said Griggs. “She had a great game today that was the epitome of the way her season was. She just played hard off the ball and she’s a lot of fun to coach.”

Richmond responded late. Johnson scored and then Plummer added two in the paint with 4:17 left. Johnson hit another corner jumper and the 6-0 run made it 44-36.

“We needed to slow our offense down,” said Richmond coach Molly Bishop, whose team was 10-for-41 from the floor in the second half. “We were forcing the ball too much and too often when we needed to take our time.”

Hebron got a free throw from Brown, but Richmond finished with nine straight to break the game open. Bradish was lost during that stretch when a technical fouled her out.

“We had 10 days to prepare,” Griggs said. “We just kept doing what we do well — pass the ball around and see if we can make our shots. On defense, we just had to play good defense. Most of the game, we did, but the last four or five minutes hurt us.”

Hebron, which has never won a tournament game in Augusta, started strong and built a five-point lead in the first quarter. Bradish had eight points in the first as the Lumberjacks built a 12-11 lead. Plummer kept Richmond close with nine of her own.

The Bobcats used an 8-0 run in the second quarter to take the lead. Richmond had a 9-2 surge in the third to build a double-digit advantage.

“They hadn’t seen (Plummer) before,” Bishop said. “So were trying to get Jaime the ball, but it took us some time not to force her the ball early in the game when it really wasn’t there.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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