The Mathews High School varsity girls’ basketball team fell to 1-1 on the season following a 41-34 loss on Friday to the visiting Lancaster Red Devils.

Lancaster knocked the Blue Devils out of post-season play last year. For that reason, Mathews was looking for revenge … but did not quite play hard enough to get it.

The Blue Devils’ offense was very slow in the first half. All but five points were scored from the foul line. Ellie Armistead and Skyller Worley each went 3-for-4 from the line from driving in the paint to create havoc. At halftime, Mathews trailed by eight points, 19-11.

The Red Devils were playing in a diamond-and-1 and eventually switched to a box-and-1 on Armistead the whole game. They also played in a man defense while pressing which caused the Blue Devils to let their guard down completely and fall in scoring.

The Blue Devils came out of the locker room reenergized in the third quarter. They completely took over the game for a good four minute...