In what could be the final meeting between the two teams, the Christian County Lady Colonels took full advantage of ball security issues for the Madisonville-North Hopkins Lady Maroons and rolled to a 67-44 win in a girls’ 2nd Region contest Monday night at Lyle Dunbar Gym.
Unless the two teams meet in the 2nd Region tournament, the series will end with Christian County having won the final four games between the two teams.
A bumpy start to the night for the Lady Maroons as the Christian County defense caused all sorts of problems for Jeff Duvall’s team. Madisonville committed six turnovers in the first two and ½ minutes of the game, and the bad news for Lady Maroon fans was that this would continue to be a theme for the first half of play.
Christian County was able to take advantage of the ball-handling issues and run out to a quick 11-2 lead. The Lady Colonel lead would be at 19-8 when the opening quarter ended.
The Lady Maroon turnover issues played a big part in the opening quarter as they finished with 10 miscues. Genesis McGee was also a force for Christian County down in the lane, scoring 10 points in the first eight minutes of the game.
The turnover bug continued to bite the Lady Maroons like mosquitoes in a lowland in the second quarter, and the Lady Colonels continued to convert on the other end. Madisonville had seven more miscues in the second as the Christian County lead reached as many as 18 points at 28-10.
Led by the play of Macy Wright and Sadie Kirk, who had missed the first week of the season with a trip to a USA Softball event, the Lady Maroons closed out the first half with a 9-4 spurt to cut the gap to 32-19 at the break.
Wright almost singlehandedly kept the Lady Maroons within shouting distance in the half, scoring 13 points and pulling down 6 rebounds. Kirk had four points and five boards.
Genesis McGee was rolling in the opening half for Christian County with 12 points and 7 rebounds. The problem for the Lady Colonels late in the half was that foul trouble was starting to be a bit of a factor. The Lady Colonels only had 5 turnovers in the half compared to 17 for the Lady Maroons.
As the second half got started, Madisonville was able to get the turnovers slowed down to start the third quarter, but the Lady Maroons still had a double-digit deficit that they needed to do something with. The problem was that Madisonville was not finding ways to get stops on the defensive end.
The Christian County lead was 38-24 midway through the third and then a couple of quick turnovers from the Lady Maroons turned into a couple of Lady Colonel runouts for Anaysia Bagwell and Adreyona Smith, and an 8-2 run as Christian County pushed the lead out to 48-26 with under three minutes to go in the quarter. The quarter ended with Christian County holding a 49-28 lead.
Anaysia Bagwell and Carliah Hobson then put the pedal all the way down as Christian County pulled away as the fourth quarter got rolling. The lead would reach as many as 27 points in the final quarter.
Bagwell led Christian County on the night with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Carliah Hobson finished with 17 points and 7 boards. Genesis McGee added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Carlie Hobson just missed double figures with 9 points. Deriona Hickman had just two points but pulled down 9 rebounds.
Macy Wright led the Lady Maroons with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Sadie Kirk added 9 points and 11 boards. Taylor Nelson chipped in with 8 points.
Christian County (2-0) is back in action Thursday against Portland, Tennessee.
Madisonville (1-2) hosts Caldwell County in a 7th District matchup Tuesday night.
