Down five points with under 2 minutes to play, Hopkins County Central’s girls rallied to claim the 7th District championship Thursday night in Mortons Gap.
The Lady Storm scored the final six points of the night to pull the game out of the fire, with Mercy Sutton’s bucket from the low block with just 6.9 seconds left lifting Hopkins Central to a 39-38 victory over rival Madisonville-North Hopkins.
In a deliberately-paced game in which neither side led by more than five points, the second-seeded Lady Maroons (19-11) appeared to grab the upper hand late in the contest.
A 3-pointer by Amari Lovan put Madisonville up 34-31 with 2:51 remaining.
A three-point play by Jaycee Noffsinger on a drive down the lane put the Lady Maroons up 37-33. Noffsinger then made the first of two free throws with 1:56 to go to extend the margin to 38-33.
Hopkins Central (23-8) answered with a driving layup by Brooklyn Clark at the 1:47 mark.
Tyah White connected on two free throws with 36 seconds to go to pull the Lady Storm within one at 38-37.
Madisonville missed the front end of the bonus with 29 seconds left.
Hopkins Central then worked the ball down the low block, where Sutton used a drop step to get up the game-winner.
Madisonville had one final opportunity, but could not get up a shot. A traveling call at the buzzer ended the championship contest.
Clark was the only player in the game to score in double figures with 14 points. Calajia Mason added nine points for the Lady Storm.
For Madisonville, Lovan and Riley Sword each had nine points.
Both teams advance to play in the 2nd Region tournament next week at Union County.
Madisonville-NH 8 8 9 13 — 38
Hopkins Central 5 13 6 15 — 39
Madisonville-North Hopkins (19-11)—Sword 9, Lovan 9, Whitsell 8, Noffsinger 8, Carney 4.
Hopkins County Central (23-8)—Clark 14, Mason 9, White 7 Jones 5, Sutton 4.
