American motivational speaker Zig Ziglar has said “It’s not where you start — It’s where you finish that counts.” On Wednesday night, that phrase would describe what Crittenden County’s Anna Boone pulled off at the All A Classic. Boone caught fire in the 4th quarter and led her team to a nail-biting 56-53 win over Lexington Christian in the opening round of the statewide tournament.
Boone had a solid game going after three quarters, having scored 9 points, but the 4th quarter was something else indeed. Boone lit up The Corbin Arena for 16 points over the final 8 minutes as the Lady Rockets advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time in their last four appearances in the All A Classic.
It was a good thing too that Boone heated up because the Lady Rockets needed everything they could get from everyone in the game to get past the Lady Eagles.
Crittenden County opened the game about as well as Coach Shannon Hodge could have asked for. With Jordyn Hodge scoring seven early points, the Lady Rockets scored the first 9 points of the game and then took a 12-2 lead midway through the opening quarter.
LCA finally got settled in and began to battle their way back into the game. The Lady Eagles, paced by Jentry Bertram, ended the quarter the exact same way the Lady Rockets had started the game, with a 9-0 run, as Bertram’s layup ahead of the buzzer put LCA in front 15-14.
That momentum carried over early into the second quarter for Lexington Christian as they extended the lead out to 21-16.
Just about the time it looked as if the Lady Rockets might be in early trouble, things changed and changed in a hurry. Three-pointer by Jordyn Hodge. Three-pointer by Elliot Evans. Three-pointer by Jordyn Hodge. Two-pointer by Anna Boone. Two-pointer by Morgan Stewart. And, just like that, Crittenden County was back in front 29-21. The Lady Rockets would take a 29-25 lead into the break.
Coming out of the half, it was LCA’s turn to make a run. Trailing 31-25, the Lady Eagles scored 11 straight to take a 36-31 lead and again it looked as if the Lady Rockets were in trouble. Lexington Christian’s lead would be 38-34 going into the final quarter.
Then it was ‘show time’ or maybe it should have been called ‘Anna Time’ for Crittenden County. Boone and Elliot Evans scored 8 quick points for the Lady Rockets to put them back in front 42-40. Over the next few minutes, the lead would change hands three times and the game would be tied once.
With Crittenden County trailing 50-49, Evans scored to put the Lady Rockets up 51-50. Boone got a basket to extend the lead to 53-50. After a free throw for LCA came the shot of the night. Boone popped open at the top of the key and drained a 3-pointer, giving Crittenden County a 56-51 lead and pushing her past 1,000 points for her career.
LCA cut the lead to three points on a shot by Chapel Brown and would have a chance to tie the game after forcing a Lady Rocket turnover. However, the Lady Rocket defense slammed the door and the celebration was on as Crittenden County advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals.
The Lady Rockets were led by Anna Boone with 25 points. Jordyn Hodge added 17. Elliot Evans had 8 with most of them coming at crucial moments for the Lady Rockets.
LCA’s Chapel Brown and Jentry Bertram scored 16 points each to lead the Lady Eagles.
Crittenden County improves to 10-8 with the win, which was their 6th straight, and advances to Friday’s quarterfinals at 1pm at The Corbin Arena.
