The Crittenden County Lady Rockets most certainly had to be tired of hearing about it. That 31-point loss to Lyon County happened just two days before Christmas, so you figure it was a topic of discussion over the holidays. And you know Coach Shannon Hodge had reminded them of it heading into Monday night’s All A 2nd Region championship game against that same bunch of Lady Lyons. So you figure, the Lady Rockets might come out like a team on a mission.
By the way, they did.
Crittenden County hit the Lady Lyons with a 9-0 punch out of the gate forcing Lyon County to play catchup the rest of the night as the Lady Rockets won their third straight All A regional championship 50-41 at Rocket Arena in Marion.
The Lady Lyons were staggered by the early run but fought their way back to within 9-7 behind the efforts of Jenna Coursey and Courtney Collins. But, in a trend that would continue most of the night, with the Lady Rockets playing tight, physical defense, the Lady Lyons did not get many open looks as shots and when they could get off a shot, the basket appeared to have a lid on it, even from right under the basket.
Crittenden County finished the first quarter much like they started it, with a run. The Lady Rockets scored the final 6 points of the quarter to take a 15-7 lead.
The shooting struggles continued for Lyon County in the second quarter. After they trimmed the lead to 4 at 15-11, Crittenden County finished out the half by outscoring the Lady Lyons 13-3 to take a 28-14 lead into the break.
What was even more impressive about the Crittenden County lead was that the Lady Rockets had the lead without Anna Boone scoring a point in the half.
The Lady Rocket defense was in lockdown mode for the first 16 minutes, holding Lyon County to just three made field goals and limiting the Lady Lyon trio of Courtney Collins, Trinity Taylor, and Piper Cotham to a combined seven points.
Elliot Evans had a stellar half for the Lady Rockets with 14 points.
An 8-0 run early in the third quarter allowed Crittenden County to extend the lead to 36-18. Then Anna Boone finally got going for the Lady Rockets on offense and the lead grew to 20 points at 41-21 and it was starting to look as if Crittenden County were going to return a 31-point favor.
A quick 8-1 run for Lyon County cut the lead to 42-29 and the Lyon County throng made its loudest noise of the night.
Anna Boone came up with a huge three just ahead of the horn to make it 45-29 and stave off the comeback for the time being.
Sparked by their defensive pressure, the Lady Lyons made one last charge to get back into the game midway through the final quarter. Trailing 47-33. Lyon County scored eight straight points to cut the lead to 47-41 inside the final two minutes and the hopes of the Lyon fans in attendance were beginning to pick up.
But, the Lady Lyons still had problems of getting shots to fall against the physical Crittenden County defense and they would not score for the rest of the game as Crittenden County made three free throws to seal the win.
The Lady Rockets were able to hold on in the 4th quarter despite not making a field goal over the final eight minutes of the game.
Jenna Coursey was the leading scorer for Lyon County with 13 points. Piper Cotham added 11, nine of them coming in the second half. Lilly Perry finished with 7 and Trinity Taylor had 6.
Crittenden County was led by Elliot Evans with 14 points, all in the first half. Jordyn Hodge added 13 points. Anna Boone also hit double digits with 11 second half points.
Lyon County drops to 14-2 with the loss and sees their winning streak end at 13 games. They host Trigg County Friday night.
Crittenden County improves to 12-3 with the win and will advance to the All A Classic state tournament January 22 in Owensboro against the winner of the 15th Region. Four teams are in the semifinals for the 15th Region Tuesday night with those teams being Betsy Layne, Pikeville, Paintsville, and Martin County.
Before then, the Lady Rockets will take on Trigg County Tuesday night in a 5th District contest.
