The Lyon County Lady Lyons sent a message to the 5th District and the rest of the 2nd Region Monday night. That message being that they plan on being a team to be reckoned with come postseason time.
The Lady Lyons battled their way through serious foul problems, cranked up their defense to another level, and rolled past Crittenden County 75-44 in Jason White Gym.
The win was the biggest margin in the series since the Lady Lyons won by 34 points back in January of 2007.
The Lady Rockets, kicked off by a three from Andrea Federico, scored the first five points of the game to take the early lead. The Lady Lyons returned the favor with a six-point run of their own to make it 6-5.
The problem for the Lady Lyons early on was foul problems and the Lady Rockets took full advantage. The first four fouls against Lyon County were all shooting fouls with the Lady Rockets converting 5 of the 8 free throws.
Plus, Trinity Taylor picked up two fouls in less than three minutes of the opening quarter. Two minutes later, Jenna Coursey had her second. Less than a minute after that, Lilly Perry had her second. The Lady Rockets used their opportunities at the line to take an 18-15 lead after one.
Both teams were pressing full court and in the second quarter, Crittenden County began to have some serious issues with ball security. The Lyon County pressure led to steals and turnovers, with many of those leading to runouts and layups for the Lady Lyons.
A 14-2 blitz to open the second quarter put the Lady Lyons up 29-20. Piper Cotham and Courtney Collins were a crucial one-two combination for the Lady Lyons as they built the lead and went into the break ahead 40-28. Cotham had 22 points in the first half and on a three-point shot with 2:11 to go in the first quarter, joined the 1,000-point club at Lyon County, and, in doing so, became the fastest a Lady Lyon has reached that mark.
Even with the 12-point halftime lead, the Lady Lyons were still dealing with the foul problem issue. Jenna Coursey, Trinity Taylor, and Lilly Perry, all picked up their third fouls in less than two minutes midway through the second quarter.
The foul problems would end up turning out to be quite meaningless in the scope of the evening.
With the score at 46-34 early in the third quarter, the Lady Lyons lowered the boom for good on the Lady Rockets. With the defensive pressure continuing to drive the train, Lyon County scored 9 straight points to blow the lead out to 55-34. The Lady Lyons were also deadly efficient in their half-court offense during the run to take control of the game.
The third quarter would end with Lyon County up 61-38. Still with some foul troubles, as Lilly Perry and Trinity Taylor picked up their fourth fouls in a span of just three seconds late in the quarter. But, no Lady Lyon would foul out of the game.
Lyon County began the fourth quarter with a bit more deliberate pace and spreading the court on the offensive end. However, when the Lady Lyons found seams in the defense they attacked, and more often than not they found their way to the basket.
Reserves for both teams entered the game for the final 3+ minutes and played out the game the rest of the way.
Piper Cotham led the Lady Lyons with 33 points, including 9 of 9 at the free throw line. Courtney Collins ended up with 19 points and 5 rebounds. Lilly Perry had 9 points and came up with 5 steals in the game. Speaking of steals, with the pressure cranked up, the Lady Lyons came up with 17 steals as a team.
Anna Boone led Crittenden County with 17 points, only 4 in the second half. Jordan Hodge was the other Lady Rocket to reach double figures with 10.
With the win, which was their 6th straight, the Lady Lyons improve to 7-1 on the season. They get back to action Friday when they take on Lexington Henry Clay in the Kelly Holiday Classic at Bourbon County.
