With points in short supply on Wednesday night in the 4th Region All-A semifinal at Russellville, the Todd County Central Lady Rebels were outscored down the stretch to fall 35-31 to the Cumberland County Lady Panthers.
The loss snaps a three-game winning run for the Lady Rebels to leave them at 6-7 on the season. Cumberland County improves to 11-5 with its fifth win in six tries and advances to Friday’s championship game against hosts Russellville.
The Lady Rebels were held scoreless for the first five minutes of the game before Alexis Taylor scored down low for a 7-2 score. Cumberland’s Jayleana Smith drew a foul at the 1st-quarter buzzer and hit both free throws with no time on the clock to give the Lady Panthers a 13-4 advantage.
Trailing by seven with less than two minutes to play in the 1st half, Todd Central’s Abby Williams converted a 3-point play to spark an 8-2 run. Jamaia Coleman drilled a 3-pointer and scored on a runner in the final seconds to get the Lady Rebels within a point at 18-17 at the break.
Todd Central led by three after back-to-back buckets in the lane by Taylor, but found themselves down three with 1:48 left in the 3rd quarter. Taylor scored in the lane to again cut it to one before Kaylen Franklin sank a pair of free throws to give Cumberland a 28-25 edge with a quarter to play.
The Lady Rebels were cold in the 4th, managing a single basket and using the free-throw line to stay within striking distance. Down a point after Williams hit one of two at the line, Todd Central was outscored 6-0 over the next four minutes. Franklin scored four of her game-high 12 points down the stretch, with the last basket coming on a layup for a 35-28 Cumberland lead with 1:33 on the clock.
Chester scored on a drive and Taylor hit one of two free throws to cut the Cumberland advantage to four with :46 left, but they wouldn’t score again despite the Lady Panthers leaving the door open with front-end misses on two one-and-ones.
Cumberland County 13 5 10 7 — 35
Todd County Central 4 13 8 6 — 31
