Cayson Conner had 20 points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist in Friday's win over Bethlehem. (KHSAA Photo)
Call it a will to win or whatever you want, but when Marshall County’s season was in danger of ending here came senior Cayson Conner. She scored 20 of her 24 points in the second half, including 10 straight for her team in the final two minutes, to spark a 58-51 victory over Bethlehem in the state tournament quarterfinals.
“She steps up when she needs to,” coach Aaron Beth said. “Her biggest issue is her confidence in herself. I know how good she is. She can take over a game.”
“We knew we had to try and cut her off a little bit,” Bethlehem coach Jason Clark said. “She is a good player and just made the plays.”
Conner was 8-for-13 from the field and 7-for-8 at the line to get her 24 points and also had four rebounds, two steals, and one assist and played all 32 minutes. Both her steals also came in the final two minutes and led to Marshall points.
“The defensive effort that came up with those steals down the stretch was huge,” Beth said about Conner, who had 22 points in Marshall’s win over Pikeville Thursday.
Halle Langhi had 15 points — she was 8-for-10 at the foul line — and 12 rebounds and one assist. She also hit a rare 3-pointer and more than redeemed herself for a poor shooting game at the foul line against Pikeville.
“Halle’s 3 was huge and her first in a while,” Beth said. “She picked a great time to step back and make a 3. She is a great free throw shooter. Yesterday was not normal.”
Marshall County was 18 for 22 at the foul line with Conner and Langhi combining to go 15-for-18.
“We just maintained great poise. We have played tough teams all year,” Beth said. “I thought our defense was exceptional. We have not played man-to-man defense a lot but they shoot so well.”
It was a heartbreaking loss for Bethlehem (26-5) which beat Marshall 67-60 on Jan. 8 and opened state play with a difficult 70-65 win over Bullitt East.
“We kind of knew what we were going up against and it just made it easier this time,” Langhi said.
Bethlehem senior Ella Thompson did all she could to make it hard on the Marshals (24-2). She scored 11 straight points for her team in the fourth quarter and finished with 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and 7-for-9 at the foul line along with seven rebounds and four assists.
“I am really proud of my team. It was not the ending we wanted. We played hard and just left it all out there,” Thompson, who had a long embrace with her coach at the loss, said.
Bethlehem’s other senior, point guard Amelia Hodges, had 12 points, three assists, and two rebounds but was only 5-for-16 from the field against Marshall’s aggressive defense.
“We always played hard and always left it out there,” Hodges said when asked about what she’ll remember about her career.
Clark will remember a lot more about his seniors.
“Words cannot describe how much they mean to me,” Clark said. “They have won 90-some games. Three straight district championships. Two regional championships. Class A championship. Coming from a school of 250 (students), that shows how special these two are.
“I don’t know what college coaches look for but these two can play. If I was a college coach, I would take them.”
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Marshall will play Henderson County (20-4), a winner over Russell, in Saturday’s semifinal at 2 p.m. EST. Marshall beat Henderson 46-45 on Feb. 23 on a free throw with no time left on the clock. Conner had 15 points and Langhi 14 points.
“We are not going to do many things differently no matter what they do,” Beth said before he knew who won the Henderson-Russell game. “It will be a game where emotions take over. Both teams will be fatigued.”
