Sometimes, there are just those kinds of games. For the Crittenden County Lady Rockets, they would have much preferred that it had not happened Friday on the stage of the quarterfinals in the All A Classic.
Pikeville scored the first 19 points of the game and held the Lady Rockets without a field goal for just over nine minutes at the start as the Lady Panthers cruised to a 69-41 win Friday afternoon at The Corbin Arena, ending the Lady Rockets stay in the tournament.
It was a tough combination from the start for the Lady Rockets. Pikeville’s pressure made it hard to get good looks at the basket and resulted in ballhandling issues. Plus, when Crittenden County did manage to get a look at the basket, shots simply would not go down.
After the 19-0 start, Pikeville would lead 22-4 after the first eight minutes were in the books. The cold shooting woes would not end there for the Lady Rockets.
Crittenden County would end up shooting just 21.7 percent for the half, which was a really bad problem for the Lady Rockets as Pikeville was lighting the nets at 62.5 percent for the first two quarters of the game.
After no field goals in the first quarter, the Lady Rockets did manage five in the second quarter, but by that point, the Pikeville train was rolling down the tracks toward Saturday’s semifinals. The Lady Panthers held a 49-17 lead at the half after Kristen Whited scored just ahead of the halftime horn.
The Lady Rockets, who had turned in big three-point performances in their regional championship win over Lyon County and in their opening-round win over Lexington Christian, were just never allowed to get good looks from behind the arc against the Lady Panthers. They were 1 of 2 in the first half and 1 of 5 in the second half from behind the 3-point line.
Pikeville scored the first 8 points of the second half to get the score to 57-17 and bring the running clock into play for the rest of the day. The Lady Panthers led 63-28 after three. Reserves saw much of the action from there for Pikeville as they went on to take the 28-point win.
Crittenden County’s Anna Boone was contained for much of the first half, scoring just four points. She finished the game with 17 points to lead the Lady Rockets. Elliot Evans added nine points for the Lady Rockets.
Pikeville’s defense was smothering on young point guard Jordyn Hodge. The 8th grader, who had big, big games against Lyon County and Lexington Christian, was shut out by the pressure defense of the Lady Panthers, managing to take just four shots in the game.
Crittenden County shot better in the second half, nearly 40 percent, but for the game was 14 of 47 for 30.4 percent. The Lady Rockets also had their struggles on the glass, being outrebounded 33 to 16. Crittenden County did have a good day at the free throw line, going 11 of 11.
Crittenden County slips to 12-8 with the loss. The Lady Rockets are set to host Christian County on Tuesday night.
Pikeville improves to 15-2 and moves on to Saturday’s semifinals for a big battle against Owensboro Catholic, who rolled to an easy win against Danville Christian.
