To use terminology appropriate with the approaching winter storm, it felt like an avalanche hit the Lyon County Lady Lyons in the first half of their All A Classic quarterfinal game with Covington Holy Cross Friday afternoon at the Owensboro Sportscenter. And then, they almost dug their way out.
The Lady Lyons hit the Lady Indians with a 4-0 spurt in the first 60 seconds and then the roof fell in. Lyon County did not score again for just over nine minutes as Covington Holy Cross went on a crushing 29-0 run on their way to a 59-47 win to advance on to the All A Classic girls semifinals. Holy Cross then had to fend off a big Lyon County charge at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half to pick up the win.
It was just the second meeting between the two teams, the previous also coming in the All A Classic in 2022 when Holy Cross won 50-33 in Richmond.
After that quick start, it felt like the Lady Lyons were on their way. But then the turnovers came, the shots stopped falling, and Holy Cross was either converting the turnovers into layups or burying a shot from behind the arc.
Holy Cross scored the final 23 points of the first quarter and the first six of the second to take a 29-4 lead. The lead was still at 25 points at 34-9 when the Lady Lyons made a move to try and get back in the game.
Getting a spark from outside shooting from Piper Cotham, the Lady Lyons finished the half on a 15-5 run to pull within 15 points at the break at 39-24. Cotham ended the half with 11 of the Lady Lyons’ 24 points.
That momentum from the end of the first half carried over into the beginning of the second half as Lyon County continued to try and chop away at the lead. Getting a strong effort down in the lane from Jenna Coursey, and then turning up the pressure on the defense, the Lady Lyons kept coming and got as close as 8 points at 43-35.
The tide of the comeback, however, may have swung the opposite direction when the Lady Lyons got stops on four consecutive defensive trips and came away with only one made free throw in return. They headed into the final quarter down just 10 points at 47-37.
A couple of Lyon County turnovers enabled Holy Cross to push the lead back out to 14 points at 51-37 with under five minutes to go in the game. Holy Cross then spread the court on the offensive end, putting the Lady Lyons into chase the ball mode for the final minutes of the contest as Lyon County could get no closer than 10 points for the rest of the game.
Lyon County got 17 points from Piper Cotham. Jenna Coursey added 14 points, 10 of them coming in the second half. Courtney Collins finished with 13 points.
Cotham was named to the All A Classic All-Tournament team.
Jai Johnson ended up with 18 points for Holy Cross, 13 of which came during the opening half. Alyssa Arlinghaus added 17 points.
One of the telling stats for the day was the first quarter shooting for Lyon County. In that brutal first eight minutes, the Lady Lyons was just 2 of 13 from the field for 15 percent. They would end up shooting 41.7 percent for the game.
Covington Holy Cross had the advantage from behind the arc, hitting 8 of 21 threes while Lyon County made 3 of 12.
Lyon County (17-4) is scheduled to be back in action Tuesday at home against Livingston Central.
