The Christian County girls’ basketball team opened play in the Murray Bank Lady Tiger Classic with a 71-62 loss to the Lady Patriots of Lincoln County (9-2) on Thursday. The Lady Colonels slip to 10-3 on the year, with two of the three losses coming on neutral courts, and the third on the road at Bullitt East (8-3).
The Lady Colonels started slow, and trailed 7-0 when Coach Kiki Radford called a timeout only a minute and a half into the game. They responded with 5 straight points out of the timeout, but the Lady Patriots went on a 13-0 spree of their own, before the Lady Colonels scored the last 5 points and trailed 20-10 after the first quarter. Aaliyah Hampton, battling bronchitis, had 6 of the 10 Lady Colonel points in the quarter.
Junior guard Bianna Snorton started the second quarter with a three-pointer to pull the Lady Colonels to within 7 at 20-13, but the Lady Patriots went on a run to stretch the lead to 30-18 with 4:26 to play in the half. Junior guard Kinara Phillips scored 6 straight, followed by a bucket down low from senior center Trinitee Jackson to get the Lady Colonels within 4 at 30-26 with 2:19 left. Hampton scored the last 5 points of the half, and the deficit was only 35-32 at the half. The Lady Colonels outscored the Lady Patriots 22-15 in the second quarter, led by Hampton and Phillips with 6 each, and Jackson with 5.
With only a minute gone in the second half, Jackson scored down low to get the Lady Colonels to within 1 at 35-34, but Lincoln County again answered with a run, leading 42-34 with 5:30 left in the third quarter. With two minutes left, a Lady Colonel steal and score cut the lead to 47-44, but they would be shut out over the remainder of the quarter, and head into the fourth quarter down 51-44.
Christian County made one last run at the Lady Patriots, with back-to-back Hampton layups pulling them to within a basket at 53-51. However Lincoln County slowly pulled away, and led 60-53 with just under two minutes left to play. The Lady Patriots were particularly good from the foul line, going 9-10 in the final frame as Christian County had to foul to try to get back in the game. Senior guard Laderia Gold hit a three just before the buzzer for the Lady Colonels’ last points, giving Lincoln County the 71-62 win.
Hampton led the Lady Colonels in scoring with 18 and was named Player of the Game, followed by Jackson with 13, and Phillips with 10. Snorton had 8, freshman forward Trinity McGee 6, Gold 5, and freshman forward Serinity Shemwell added a bucket. Sophomore post player Eniya McGee sat out the game with a knee injury.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Colonels on Friday, when they face hosts Murray High (9-2) at 3:30.
