After a slow start, the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers clawed back to take a lead over hosts Christian County heading into the fourth quarter on Friday night, before the Lady Colonels rallied for a 60-57 victory in the first meeting of the season between the 8th-District rivals.
Christian County wins its third-straight, all against 8th-District competition, to improve to 3-0 in the district and 10-6 overall. The Lady Tigers have dropped three in a row to slip to 12-10 on the year, 3-1 in district play.
Kinara Phillips knocked down a 3-pointer followed by a bucket down low by Trinity McGee to give the Lady Colonels a 12- 4 advantage and force a Hoptown timeout with 2:00 left in the first quarter. The Lady Tigers responded with 4-straight after the timeout, but Phillips drilled another 3 at the buzzer for a 16-8 Christian County lead.
The Lady Colonels built their first double-digit lead at 23-13 after Trinity McGee went coast to coast for a layup with 3:53 to play in the half. Down 11 with less than a minute left, Arionna Day hit a 3 followed by a layup by Breon Oldham to pull the Lady Tigers to within 6 at the break.
After another Day 3-pointer midway through the third quarter, Hoptown closed the gap to 1 at 39-38, but the Lady Colonels’ Aaliyah Hampton responded with a big 3 to push the lead back to 5. The Lady Tigers were back within a single point with just over 2 minutes left in the third after 2 free throws by Jayla Rose, before taking their first lead of the game on a banked-in 3 by Yogianah McKnight.
Christian County opened the final quarter with a 7-0 run, including 5 points from Trinity McGee, to take the lead for good at 51-47. With the Lady Tigers needed a stop down 4 with 2:30 to play, Hampton nailed another dagger 3 for a 57-50 advantage.
With a chance to seal the victory in the final minute, the Lady Colonels could only manage 3/8 from the free throw line to leave the door open for Hoptown. McKnight hit a corner 3 to cut the lead to 3 with seconds remaining, but the Lady Tigers ran out of time to fall 60-57.
Trinity McGee had 15 points, 5 in the fourth quarter, to finish with a double-double. Hampton also had 15, also 5 in the fourth, followed by Phillips with 12.
McKnight scored 13 second-half points, including four 3-pointers, to finish with a game-high 18. Oldham was the only other Lady Tiger in double figures with 17.
