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Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Hidden Valley's Jordan McDonald (32) fights for a loose ball with Lord Botetourt's Jade Lewis during the second quarter. McDonald finishes with eight points in the Titans' loss.

Lord Botetourt made only 25.4 percent of its field-goal attempts (14-of-55) Monday night.

The free-throw line, however, was another story.

Converting five of six charity-stripe attempts in the final minute (including 4-of-4 by senior Grace Blaylock), Botetourt (3-1) outlasted host Hidden Valley 45-42 in a non-district girls basketball game.

The Titans (1-2) led 42-40 with a minute to go. They trailed 43-42 but had the ball when point guard Kayla Osborne called time out with 13.4 seconds left. Hidden Valley prevailed in a similar situation in a game against Northside on its home court Friday, when Osborne canned two free throws with two seconds remaining for a one-point victory.

This time, Osborne missed a 10-foot runner; Blaylock grabbed the rebound and was fouled. LB's senior leader drained the free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining. Hidden Valley's Jordan McDonald missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"I knew I had to step up and do what I had to do," said Blaylock, who was just 1-of-10 from the floor through the first three quarters. "But it wasn't my free throws that won the game; it was our play on the defensive end. We won with heart."

Neither team shot well, but both head coaches attributed that to strong defensive play.

"We struggled early," Botetourt coach Chuck Pound said. "We hadn't seen more than about one minute of man-to-man defense this season prior to tonight.

"You've got to credit Hidden Valley for taking us out of our game and playing us so physical."

The Titans were whistled for 21 fouls.

Hidden Valley led 17-11 early in the second quarter when the Cavs implemented their full-court pressure. Botetourt went on a 9-1 run to lead 20-18 at the half.

"We're a young team," Titans assistant coach Randy Bush said. "We've only got one senior -- Abby Redick -- and she's not playing [because of injury]. We had three freshmen play considerable minutes tonight -- Alena Hamrick, Tyler Evans and Kelsey Crotty. Kelsey did a great job holding down their leading scorer [Blaylock]."

Osborne led the Titans with 14 points, 11 of them coming in the first 12 minutes. McDonald and Rachel Singleton each scored eight and Beth Conner added six. Neither Singleton nor Conner missed from the floor, but the rest of the Titans made just 10 of 33 of their field-goal attempts.

Sophomore Hannah Ware came off the bench to lead the Cavs with 11 points, scoring in second- and fourth-period bursts that twice propelled Botetourt into the lead.

The Cavs made 16 of 22 free throws (72.7 percent) for the game.

"We thought free throw shooting could be our Achilles' heel," Pound said, "but two of first three games we shot [free throws] exceptionally well. They're all good shooters."

LORD BOTETOURT (3-1)

MacKenzie Tyree 1 0-0 3, Blaylock 2 4-4 8, Farmer 2 0-0 4, Macey Tyree 0 0-0 0, Lyle 4 6-8 14, Caldwell 0 0-0 0, Ware 3 5-7 11, Lewis 2 1-3 5. Totals 14 16-22 45.

HIDDEN VALLEY (1-2)

Osborne 5 3-4 14, Singleton 3 0-0 8, Crotty 0 0-0 0, Divers 1 1-2 3, McDonald 4 0-0 8, Evans 0 1-2 1, Conner 3 0-0 6, Hamrick 0 2-4 2, Burke 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-12 42.

Lord Botetourt 5 15 8 17 -- 45

Hidden Valley 13 5 15 9 -- 42

3-point goals Lord Botetourt 1 (MacKenzie Tyree). Hidden Valley 3 (Singleton 2, Osborne). Fouls Lord Botetourt 12, Hidden Valley 21. Fouled out None. JV Lord Botetourt, 31-23.