It has been a tumultuous season for the Madisonville-North Hopkins Lady Maroons to say the least. They lost arguably their best player to a knee injury before the season even got started. Then they faced COVID-19 shutdowns not once, not twice, but three times over the course of the season, and only were able to play 12 regular-season games.
Tuesday night, the Lady Maroons got to put some of that behind them. Madisonville-North Hopkins used a big third-quarter run to take a double-digit lead over Christian County and then had to hold off a furious late-game rally from the Lady Colonels to pick up a 46-42 win in the quarterfinal round of the girls’ 2nd Region tournament.
The win moves the Lady Maroons into the semifinal round for the third straight season.
The first quarter saw plenty of defense and both teams struggle with ball control issues. Madisonville used a couple of free throws to take the early 2-0 lead. Led by their defensive pressure, Christian County then went on a 7-0 run to take the lead at 7-2. NaVaeh Day helped get the Lady Colonels going on the offensive end early. The quarter would come to an end with Christian County leading 9-7.
The Lady Colonels scored the first five points of the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-7. Anaysia Bagwell would end up with a big second quarter for Christian County, scoring five points, as the Lady Colonels would find themselves leading late in the half 21-14.
However, the Lady Maroons would make a run to chew up the lead going into the half. With sophomore Lillie Carmen leading the way, Madisonville-North Hopkins scored the final six points of the half to make it 21-20.
Turnovers affected both teams in the first 16 minutes. The Lady Maroons finished the half with 15, while the Lady Colonels had 10. Christian County would own a slight edge on the boards at the half 23-21.
Coming out of the locker room for the second half, the Lady Colonels had trouble getting the ball to find the basket. Even as Christian County was crashing the offensive glass, the shots would not go down. Meanwhile, the Lady Maroons began to find opportunities for good looks at the basket, and they took advantage of them. Trailing 27-26, Madisonville went on an 11-0 run to take a 37-27 lead.
When the quarter ended, the Lady Maroons were up 37-29. A big third quarter for Destiny Whitsell, who scored eight points in the quarter to lead the Lady Maroon charge.
The shooting woes continued into the 4th quarter for Christian County. That, in combination with the Lady Maroons cutting down on their miscues and attacking the glass, was a difficult combination for the Lady Colonels to overcome. A 5-1 spurt at the beginning of the final quarter pushed the Madisonville lead out to 42-30.
In an effort to make one final push to get back in the game, the Lady Colonels cranked up the defensive pressure, and got the Lady Maroons to be a little more cooperative with the turnovers. A basket down in the lane by senior Trinity McGee cut the lead to 44-37 with 3:20 to go prompting a timeout from Coach Jeff Duvall of Madisonville.
Christian County kept pushing with defensive pressure trying to get back to the lead. Another Trinity McGee basket at 1:26 to go cut the lead down to 45-41.
Leila Lee came up with a steal on the ensuing possession and knocked down one of two free throws to make it 45-42. Christian County immediately came up with yet another takeaway, but could not get the layup to fall. A foul on the rebound sent Lillie Carmen to the line where she made one of two.
Christian County had good looks at the basket trying to cut into the four-point lead, but could not get any of them to fall as Madisonville held on for the four-point win.
The Lady Maroons were led by Destiny Whitsell and Lillie Carmen, who each finished with 13 points. Amari Lovan added nine points.
For Christian County, 7th grader Anaysia Bagwell and senior Trinity McGee were at the top of the scoring column with eight points each. Bagwell went down late with a leg injury and was not available for the final second as the Lady Colonels were desperately trying to get an outside shot to fall.
Christian County ends their season at 6-10, and with the 8th District championship.
Madisonville moves to 6-9 on the year and will now take on Henderson County Saturday afternoon in the semifinals at Hopkins County Central. Henderson County advanced after Livingston Central had to withdraw due to COVID-19 protocols. The two teams were on the court, just a couple of minutes from getting their game started when the game was called off.
MNHS — 7 13 17 9 – 46
CCHS — 9 12 8 13 – 42
Madisonville-North Hopkins (6-9) – Whitsell 13, Carmen 13, Lovan 9, Franklin 8, Hallum 3
Christian County (6-10) – Bagwell 8, McGee 8, Catlett-Watkins 7, Day 6, Lee 6, Killebrew 4, Shemwell 3
