The Lambert girls made history and the Lambert boys fell short of a three peat last Friday night at Milton.

With less than a minute to go, the Lambert girls were staring down their first loss of the season. North Forsyth pulled ahead by six points, and the Longhorns were desperate for an answer. Lambert relied on their defense all season long to create quick fast break points, and it would bail them out one more time.

M.E. Craven, the defender in the middle of the press break who initiates traps, used her length and speed to overwhelm the Raiders. She forced three turnovers in the last minute of the game, finding herself at the foul line with 5.3 seconds to go and the game tied. She missed the first free throw, and the Raider crowd went wild. A deep breath followed by a couple of dribbles of the ball gave Craven composure, and she sunk the go-ahead free throw, giving Lambert their 59-58 victory and first region championship.

For the boys, they had not lost a region game in two seasons. The Milton student section was filled from top to bottom of the bleachers. The last time Lambert played Milton, it was in the same gym, and the Longhorns got the win. As the old cliché goes, it is hard to beat a team twice.

Duke commit Alex O’Connell lead the way early for Milton. He hit a couple of big threes to give Milton an early lead. The real problem for the Longhorns was Christian Wright, who ended the game with 25 points and a plethora of other stat sheet filling marks.

Lambert only lead the game once, which was the first basket of the game. Lambert would make runs, but Milton would respond and extend their lead again. It was a vicious cycle, and in the fourth quarter Milton got their lead to double digits and it was just too big of a lead to come back from. Lambert would end up losing the game 81-70, their first region loss in two seasons.