Lady Rockets Go Back-to-Back to Claim 5th District Title

Many people will tell you the Fifth District has the most significant home-court advantage when it comes to the basketball postseason. Livingston Central, who had been blown out by top-seed Crittenden County three times during the regular season, found themselves tied with the Lady Rockets midway through the third quarter with a raucous crowd behind them.

But the Lady Rockets showed why they are the number one seed as they held off Livingston Central’s best shot to win 56-46 and claim its second straight district title. The Lady Rockets will move into next week’s region tournament at Union County and will play either Webster County, Hopkinsville, or Madisonville in the first round.

The Lady Rockets got off to a strong start as their press led to four quick Livingston turnovers, which Crittenden flipped into an 11-3 lead. However, Livingston Central withstood Crittenden’s early haymaker and countered with some jabs of their own to get back to within two points at 13-11 with 2:46 left in the quarter.

Crittenden responded with a 7-0 run and went into the locker room at halftime with a 27-17 lead.

Fueled by Victoria Joiner and Aubrey Leahy, the Lady Cardinals used an 11-1 run to tie the game at 28-28 with 3:47 left.

That’s when Taylor Guess showed why she was voted region player of the year. The Lady Rockets senior guard scored 12 of Crittenden’s next 14 points to key a 14-6 run.

Aubrey Leahey and Joiner combined to score Livingston’s first 12 points of the fourth quarter and got the Lady Cardinals to within 48-44 with 59 seconds left.

Crittenden hit 8-of-11 free throws in the final quarter to stave off the Livingston Central rally.

The Lady Rockets outscored Livingston 34-20 in the paint and turned 16 Lady Cardinal turnovers into 17 points.

Guess finished with 31 points and nine rebounds, hitting 12-of-25 shots. Natalie Boone scored 12 points.

Aubrey Leahey finished with 17 points and Joiner added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Emersyn Ramage led the Lady Cardinals on the glass with 12 boards as they fell short in their bid to win their first district title since 2014.

They will head into next week’s region tournament and face a first-round test from Henderson County, Hopkins County Central or Christian County. The draw for the region tournament will be held Friday morning with play to begin Monday night.

For Crittenden County, the win was its 17th straight over Livingston Central dating back to 2018 and its fifth straight win in the district tournament. Thursday marked only the third time the Crittenden County in Livingston had met in the district championship game.

The last time was in 2018, which, like Thursday night, was the second of two straight district titles for Crittenden County.