The Christian County Lady Colonels are headed to the 2nd Region semifinals for the first time since 2019. Christian County fended off a big second-half rally from Livingston Central on the way to a 61-47 win Tuesday night at Union County High School.
Livingston Central came out and took the early lead in the game. With Aubrey Leahy and Victoria Ramage leading the way, the Lady Cardinals bolted out to a 7-2 lead.
The Lady Colonels battled back, getting a spark from the energy of DEbony Anderson when she came in off the bench and tied the game at 12-12. The teams traded baskets to end the opening quarter all knotted up at 14-14.
The Christian County defensive pressure then began to assert itself as the second quarter got underway. After the Lady Cardinals scored the first basket of the quarter, the Lady Colonels went on an 11-0 nothing run that took up much of the rest of the quarter as Christian County took a 25-16 lead. The lead would be 27-27 as the two teams left the floor at the half.
A big boost in the second quarter for Christian County came from the play of Lazarie Daniel, both on offense and on defense. Christian County held the Lady Cardinals to just one field goal and one made free throw in the quarter.
For much of the third quarter, the two teams played pretty even. Early in the third, the Christian County lead grew to 33-19. But then, Maggie Downey took over. Downey would catch fire and score 11 points in the third, including going 4 of 4 at the line, as Livingston Central scored the final seven points of the quarter to cut a 40-27 deficit to 40-34 heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
The fourth quarter turned out to be the old adage of not quite being able to get over the hump for Livingston Central. The Lady Cardinals would close to within four points on four occasions in the final quarter, but could never break through to get any closer. Christian County did what they needed to defensively late to fend off the rally, getting big plays from NeVaeh Day, Anaysia Bagwell, and Lazarie Daniel. Christian County ended up scoring the final 10 points of the game to get to the 14-point victory margin.
Anaysia Bagwell finished with 20 points to lead Christian County. Lazarie Daniel added 14 points and seemed to make big play after big play in the second half.
Maggie Downey, who almost by herself brought Livingston Central from behind to an upset victory, led the Lady Cardinals with 15 points. Victoria Joiner also hit double figures with 13.
Livingston Central sees their season come to an end with a record of 12-19.
Christian County improves to 16-13 with the victory, which was their first in the 2nd Region tournament since they beat Lyon County 50-39 back in 2019. The Lady Colonels advance to the second regional semifinal game Friday night.
LCHS – 14 03 17 13 — 47
CCHS – 14 13 13 21 — 61
Livingston Central – Downey 15, Joiner 13, A. Leahy 8, T. Leahy 6, Ramage 3, Holman 2
Christian County – Bagwell 20, Daniel 14, McGregor 9, Harris 8, Day 6, Anderson 2, Northington 2
