(by Don Meador, December 16, 2019)
Despite shooting woes for the Allen County-Scottsville Lady Patriots, the squad went 2-1 last week. The team opened the week with a 39-34 win over Adair County and finshed Friday night with a 45-27 homecoming win verses the Cumberland County Lady Panthers. Sandwiched between the two was a 0 45-41 defeat at Greenwood Thursday night.
The Lady Patriots rallied from a halftime deficit to down the Adair County Lady Indians 39-35 Tuesday night in the opening round of the 2A Championship Sectional tournament at Patriot Gym.
The Lady Patriots grabbed an early 8-0 lead before the Lady Indians closed the first frame on a 5-0 run to pull within three, 8-5. Adair County outscored AC-S 14-10 in the second quarter to take a 19-18 lead at the half. A strong third quarter from the Lady Patriots enabled the hosts to build a 30-24 lead. AC-S maintained their slight advantage the rest of the way to secure their first win of the season.
Allison Meador led the way with 11 points. Kaylee Bullington added nine points with Taylor Carter and Jae McReynolds chipping in seven points. Chloe Cook grabbed eight rebounds and registered five steals to help the Lady Patriot’ cause.
AC-S finished the night 10 of 37 from the floor (27.0%) and 18 of 30 at the free throw line (60.0%). Adair County was 13-36 from the field (36.1%) and five of 14 from the foul line (35.7%). The Lady Indians out rebounded the Lady Patriots 35-27. AC-S committed 14 turnovers that led to nine Adair County. The Lady Indians were forced into 23 turnovers that resulted in 15 Lady Patriot points.
The win advances the Lady Patriots into the semifinals of the 2A Sectional where they will face Warren Central on Monday, January 6 at Warren Central. AC-S (1-2) travels to Greenwood (1-2) Thursday night for a 6 p.m. game.
Thursday, a 37-17 run over the final 20
minutes of the game proved to be the difference. A balance offensive attack
keyed by the play of Bullington, Carter, Meador, and McReynolds enabled AC-S to
open a double-digit lead early in the second quarter. A basket by Allie Byrn at
the 3:51 mark of the second period staked AC-S to a 24-8 lead. Things went
downhill from that point.
Greenwood closed the first half on a 13-3 run to close to within six by halftime. The Lady gators continued to chip away. With 3”21 left in the third period, lady Gator Kayla Grant scored inside to give Greenwood a 30-29 lead. The Lady gators pushed their lead to three before a pair of Meador free throws closed the gap to one to end the third.
The game see-sawed back and forth for much of the final period. A baseline basket by Carter and two jump shots by Grace Tuttle enabled AC-S to open a 39-38 lead with 4:44 remaining. Greenwood answered only to see Cook score as AC-S retook the lead, 41-40, with 3:27 left. AC-S missed three shots and two free throws in the next two minutes. A basket by eighth-grader Leah Tinch gave the hosts a 42-41 lead with just under a minute remaining. The next 30 seconds saw the Lady Patriots missed three go ahead jump shot attempts and a pair of free throws. A Trich steal at the 20 second mark and a free throw gave Greenwood a 43-41 lead. Meador’s 3-point attempt with less than 10 seconds left was blocked. A last second lay-in gave the Gators the 45-41 win.
AC-S finshed the night 15 of 49 (30.6%) from the floor and 10-17 (58.8%) from the foul line. Greenwood was 15-48 from the floor and 13-24 at the line (54.2%). The Lady Gatorsd out rebounded ACS 39-37.
Meador and carter finished with 10 points to lead the Lady Patriots. Bullington added six points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds---one shy of the 11 rebounds Cook had in the game.
The Lady Patriots bounced back Friday night with an 18-point win over Cumberland County. Still, the game wasn’t a thing of beauty as both teams struggled to make shots and free throws. The Lady Patriots 12-42 (28.6%) from the field in the game and 19-35 (54.3%) at the foul line. Cumberland County sank 10 of 36 attempts (27.8%) from the floor and was five of 21 at the foul line (23.8%)---a pair of numbers that helped AC-S’s cause tremendously.
The Lady Patriots streaked to an 8-2 lead
midway through the first. The Lady panthers regrouped and matched the hosts
point-for-point the rest of the period to pull within six 12-6 after the first
frame. The pace slowed in the second period, evident by the teams coming for 12
points. At halftime, AC-S led 17-13.
AC-S slowly pulled away in the third frame. Buckets from Meador and McReynolds helped AC-S win the quarter 15-7 to open a 32-20 lead. In the final eight minutes, AC-S outscored Cumberland County 13-7 to win 45-27.
Meador led the Lady Patriots with 19 points
on five of 13 shooting from the floor and eight of 11 free throws. McReynolds
added nine points. Bullington led the team with seven rebounds to help the Lady
Patriots out rebound the Lady Panthers 39-28.
AC-S (2-3) played at Warren East on Tuesday and will host Barren County---your defending Region 4 champions---Friday night in what will be the team’s first District 15 battle of the year. Afterwards, AC-S will have a week-long break before opening play in the South Central Bank/Halton Classic on December 27.