After beating UHA by 31 and 24 points during the regular season, the Hopkinsville girls’ basketball team may have expected to breeze into Thursday’s 8th-District championship game, but the Lady Blazers had other ideas. UHA took a slim lead into halftime, before Hoptown opened up a double-digit advantage in the third, and held on for a 52-49 victory.
The Lady Tigers advance to the district title game against hosts Christian County on Thursday. The Lady Colonels endured a strange night, finding out midway through the first semifinal that they wouldn’t be playing in the nightcap. They were scheduled to play 4th-seeded Fort Campbell, but the Lady Falcons didn’t make the trip due to a lack of players.
University Heights finishes the season at 13-14, falling in the first round of the district tournament for the fourth-straight year after winning three-consecutive titles from 2012-2015.
The Lady Blazers took a 3-point advantage after a bucket by Meghan Adams at the midpoint of the first quarter, and led 13-10 after one. Lily Hendricks had the hot hand early for UHA, scoring 7 first-quarter points.
Hopkinsville tied the game at 15-15 on a layup by Breon Oldham with 3:57 to play in the first half, but the Lady Blazers scored the next 6, including 5 from Hendricks, to take their largest lead at 21-15. Hoptown closed the half on a 5-0 run and trailed 21-20 at the break.
Jayla Rose scored the first 5 points of the second half, and Yogianah McKnight knocked down 2 free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 28-21 advantage. With 1:20 left in the third, Rose drilled another 3, part of her 12-point third quarter, to force a UHA timeout. McKnight splashed another 3 with under :20 left, and the Lady Tigers took their first double-digit lead into the final quarter.
After 2 free throws from Oldham, the Lady Blazers answered with a 7-0 run to pull to 42-36. Down by 7 with a minute to play, UHA freshman Brianna Daniel came off the bench and hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to trim the margin to 3 with :42 left. After Adams scored on a putback, Hoptown’s JaKiyah Hinton hit 1 of 2 free throws for a 52-49 lead. After a timeout, the Lady Blazers went the length of the floor, but couldn’t get a look from 3 off in time.
UHA’s Hendricks led all scorers with 20, 14 in the first half. She was joined in double figures by Adams with 12.
Rose finished with 19 for the Lady Tigers, followed by fellow seniors McKnight with 12, and Oldham with 10.
