If you had said before the 2nd Region tournament game between Hopkinsville and Union County Tuesday night that the region player of the year, and Hopkinsville’s leading scorer, Shiyah Forte would have just two points with less than a minute to go in the game, you would have also probably thought that the Lady Tigers would have been in deep trouble.
Forte was held to just two points until the waning moments of the game, yet the Lady Tigers did what they needed to do to get past the Bravettes 56-47 in the quarterfinals at Trigg County High School.
The Lady Tigers had to withstand a late-game rally from Union County to hold on for the win, a rally that saw the Bravettes cut a 4th quarter deficit from 19 all the way down to 5 points inside the final two minutes of the game. And, while Hopkinsville struggled at the line late, they got enough to go down to turn back the attempt at the miracle rally by the Bravettes.
The win was the first 2nd Region tournament win on the court for the Lady Tigers since the 2018 tournament. Hopkinsville picked up a forfeit win over Hopkins County Central in the 2021 tourney due to COVID protocols.
A 7-0 run midway through the opening quarter got the Lady Tigers to the front, turning a 5-4 deficit into an 11-5 lead. Union County ball handling issues played a significant role in Hopkinsville getting to the lead. The Bravettes finished the opening quarter with six miscues. Lillian Goodloe was able to keep Union County in the ballgame early with two makes from behind the arc. The quarter ended with the Lady Tigers in front 13-9.
While Union County was able to slow down the rate of turnovers in the second half, the Bravettes were not able to slow down the pace of the Hopkinsville office to a place where they would have liked it to be. The trio of Makaya Payon, Alicia Davis, and Kahtahvia Fleming combined to score 14 points as Hopkinsville extended the lead to 29-21 at the half.
The Bravettes trailed by eight at the break despite limiting Hopkinsville’s leading scorer Shiyah Forte to just two points and two rebounds.
For much of the third quarter, the Union County defense did its job of keeping the Bravettes close. For about half the quarter, the Bravettes held Hopkinsville to just a single field goal. The problem was the Union County offense could not take advantage of the defensive stops and only trimmed the lead to 31-27.
Then the roof caved in, so to say, on the Bravettes. The ball security issues returned and the Lady Tigers made Union County pay and made them pay dearly for not making their move early in the second half. The Lady Tigers used the turnovers and a forceful rebounding effort from TaRia Sharber to rip off a 14-0 run to close out the quarter and head into the fourth holding a 45-27 lead.
The Lady Tiger defense forced Union County into nine turnovers in the third quarter and ended up turning several of them into layups.
Hopkinsville pushed the lead out to 19 points early in the final quarter at 47-28. Then it quickly got more interesting. Back-to-back-to-back threes from Annie Beaven and Lillian Goodloe gobbled up nine points of the lead in a flash. The threes were part of a 16-2 run that saw Union County close to within 49-44. But that would be as close as they could get as the Bravettes saw their season come to an end.
Hopkinsville was led by Alicia Davis with 16 points. Kahtahvia Fleming ended up with 14 points, including knocking down 3 of 4 at the line in the final minute of the game. While Shiyah Forte only had four points in the game, the Hoptown senior had seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Union County got 17 points from Paige Steward. Lillian Goodloe added 12, all from behind the arc. Annie Beaven also hit double figures with 10, most coming during the 4th quarter rally.
Turnovers were costly for Union County, as the Bravettes finished with 21 miscues for the night. Hopkinsville ended up with 14.
Union County sees its season come to an end at 14-14.
Hopkinsville wins its seventh straight game to improve to 12-9 and advances to Friday night’s second semifinal game at 7:30 at Trigg County High School.
UCHS — 9 12 6 20 – 47
HHS — 13 16 16 11 – 56
Union County – Steward 17, Goodloe 12, Beaven 10, Curry 6, Gough 1, Eckman 1
Hopkinsville – Davis 16, Fleming 14, Payton 7, Wilson 7, Sharber 6, Forte 4, Murray 2
