Calloway County seniors Sayler Lowe and Jaidan Koch entered Thursday night’s Kentucky 2A sectional championship game with Hopkins County Central averaging more than 42 points a game. At halftime, the duo had combined for just seven points, with Lowe having not made a field goal. And note, Hopkins County Central held a five-point lead at the break.
The Lady Lakers made a concerted effort to get both more involved in the second half, and it paid big dividends as Calloway County rallied to take a 58-48 win in a game that was much, much closer than the final score indicated.
The game swung in a 60-second span of the final quarter. Trailing by just one at 45-44, Hopkins County Central got a shot from Calajia Mason inside the lane that just would not go down. The Lady Lakers came down and scored. After a Lady Storm miss, Koch pulled down three offensive rebounds on the same trip down the floor, with the last one leading to a putback basket, and that was effectively the game.
While Calloway County entered the game ranked in the Top 10 in most state polls, it was the Lady Storm that came out and played as if they had something to prove. They took Lowe out of the game early, and with her coming out to guard Tyah White on defense, the Lady Storm attacked the basket and jumped out to an 11-5 lead.
Central ended the opening quarter leading the Lady Lakers 15-11.
Calloway County battled back and opened the second quarter with a 5-0 run capped off with a steal and layup to take a 16-15 lead, their first since 3-2 in the first quarter.
But the Lady Storm did not go away and fought back to get to the lead. Hopkins Central appeared to have all the momentum going into the break as the Lady Storm held the ball for the final minute of the half and capped it off when Addie Menser banked in a three at the horn to give Hopkins Central a 25-20 lead.
Koch came out and took over the game in the third quarter for Calloway County. The Lady Lakers tied the game at 27-27 with 5:34 left in the third. Calloway County looked to be ready to take control of the game with a 36-32 lead late in the third. But the Lady Storm scored the final six points of the quarter, including a second buzzer beater, taking a 38-36 lead into the final 8 minutes.
Once Calloway County got to the lead in that big stretch in the fourth quarter, the Lady Storm had a couple of rushed shots and a couple of turnovers, which then put them in a position to have to foul Calloway County, and the Lady Lakers were able to seal the win at the line.
Menser had a big game for the Lady Storm with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. Mason finished with 17 and gave the Lady Lakers problems with her drives to the basket. Calloway County did a big job on White, holding her to just three points on a first quarter 3-pointer.
Braylee Marsh scored only four points but played a big part in limiting Lowe to 10 points, less than half of her average coming into the game.
In addition to Lowe’s 10 points, Calloway County was led by Koch, who finished with 21 points, 16 of those in the second half. Angie Emery added 14 points.
Hopkins County Central (10-6) is now off until January 16th, when the Lady Storm will host Hopkinsville.
