The top seed in the girls’ 5th District basketball tournament hasn’t cut down the championship nets in five years. Livingston Central did everything they could to make that six, but Taylor Guess proved to be too much as the Lady Rockets came away with a 52-45 win in Monday’s tournament semifinals in Marion.
Livingston came out of the gate strong, scoring the game’s first five points and extending its lead to 11-3 after one quarter. But Guess took over in the second quarter, scoring eight straight points to give the Lady Rockets the lead. Her eighth point of the game gave her 1,826 for her career and made her the school’s all-time leading scorer.
It was an important stretch for the Lady Rockets, who took the lead and never relinquished it. Guess, the region’s leading scorer at 21 points a game, scored 24 points and grabbed five rebounds. She was the only Lady Rocket to score in double figures.
The Lady Cardinals hung tough early as Hadley Hargrove knocked three long-range jumpers, and Emersyn Ramage did the dirty work inside to finish with nine points.
But Crittenden did a good job clamping down on Victoria Joiner, Livingston’s leading scorer. She entered the game averaging 18 points a game but was held to six points.
Crittenden County, who didn’t play in last year‘s post-season due to COVID-19 hitting the team right before the district tournament, advances to Thursday night’s championship game. They will face Lyon County, who beat Trigg County 54-45 in the other semifinal.
Crittenden beat Lyon twice during the regular season, but the Lady Lyons beat Crittenden in overtime in the All A Classic region tournament championship. Thursday’s title game will be at 7 o’clock.
Livingston Central 11 4 11 9– 35
Crittenden County 3 15 10 14– 42
Livingston Central [10-17] – Ramage 9, Leahy 8, Hargrove 7, Joiner 6, Downey 5
Crittenden County [21-7] – Guess 24, A. Boone 7 Hatfield 5, N. Boone 5, Evans 1
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Great job