Playing for the first time this season due to a COVID hiatus, the Hopkinsville girls’ basketball team erased a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to knock off visiting Daviess County 57-55 on Tuesday night in Tiger Gym.
The Lady Tigers have now won their season-opener in all six seasons of Coach Anthony Babb’s tenure, while Daviess County drops its second in three outings to slip to 4-2 overall.
The Lady Tigers found themselves down 5-0 to start the game but were back on equal terms at 9-9 after Jakayla Epps scored and was fouled with 5:15 left in the first. Donisha Flowers scored 4 of her 6 first-quarter points down the stretch and Epps drained a pair of free throws to give Hopkinsville a 15-12 edge after one.
Daviess County opened the second with a 9-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from the corner by Lily Hoagland, but the Lady Tigers were back within 1 at 25-24 after a layup by Shaterrea Bellamy with 3:15 left in the half. Hoagland knocked down another 3 with :43 left to cap her 8-point quarter and stretch the lead to 6, but Flowers hit one of two free throws and Lashanti Wilson beat the buzzer with a layup to trim the margin to 3 at the half.
With the Lady Tigers appearing fatigued early in the third, Daviess County reeled off a 9-1 run to take a 40-29 lead after Ella Payne scored on a drive. Adelyn Ayer scored on a layup to give Daviess County its largest lead of the game at 48-33 and force a Hoptown timeout, but the Lady Tigers answered with the last four points of the quarter to trail by 11 heading to the fourth.
The Lady Panthers scored to open the final quarter, but an Epps 3-pointer jumpstarted a 10-3 run to pull the Lady Tigers within 6 after Shiyah Forte scored down low with 4:37 to play. After a pull-up jumper by Daviess’ Katie Mewes, Hoptown ripped off a 6-0 run to tie the game at 55-55 with just over a minute left.
Both teams had a pair of empty possessions before a Hopkinsville timeout with :36.9 left. The Lady Tigers moved the ball around for the last shot, with Wilson penetrating and finding La’Taijha Cherry down low for her only bucket of the game. Daviess County immediately called a timeout with :2.5 to try to tie or win, but they were unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.
Flowers’ 19 points led all scorers, with Epps and Bellamy also reaching double figures with 18 and 10, respectively. Flowers added 8 rebounds, with Forte and Cherry pulling down 5 each.
Ayer’s 12 led the Lady Panthers, followed by Hoagland with 11.
Daviess County 12 19 17 7 — 55
Hopkinsville 15 13 9 20 — 57
Daviess County (4-2) — Ayer 12, Hoagland 11, Payne 9, Mewes 9, Daugherty 7, Paige 2, Hancock 2, Spurrier 2
Hopkinsville (1-0) — Flowers 19, Epps 18, Bellamy 10, Forte 4, Shemwell 2, Wilson 2, Cherry 2
