The Lyon County girls’ basketball team trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half of Friday night’s 5th-District showdown with Crittenden County, before mounting a late comeback that would fall just short in a 61-53 loss. The Lady Rockets pick up their first district win to improve to 2-3 overall, while the Lady Lyons slip to 1-4 overall, 1-1 in district play.
Freshman Taylor Guess got the Lady Rockets off to a good start with 8 points and they led 13-9 after the first quarter, despite 4 points by Lyon County’s Cathryn Brown.
Crittenden took its first double-digit lead at 25-15 after two free throws by Addie Hatfield with 2:43 left in the second quarter, and still led by 10 after the Lady Lyons’ Calista Collins scored on a putback with just :5 left in the half. Guess took the inbounds pass and drove up the middle of the floor, launching a shot from midcourt that rattled home to give the Lady Rockets a 32-19 halftime advantage.
Grace Driskill scored 6 of Crittenden County’s 11 third-quarter points and the Lady Lyons couldn’t dent the lead, trailing by 15 heading to the fourth quarter.
Two Guess free throws with 3:10 to play gave the Lady Rockets their largest lead of the night at 56-37, but Lyon County wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. With the Lady Lyons going to a full-court press, Rose Smith came up with a steal and score to trim the margin to 13 with 1:43 to play.
Ella DeFew scored on a reverse layup with just under a minute left to slice the lead to single digits at 56-47. The teams traded free throws before Brown converted a 3-point play to cut the margin to 6, followed by 1 of 2 free throws from Smith for a 58-53 score with :32 to play. However, those would be the Lady Lyons’ last points, with Nahla Woodward hitting 1 of 2 free throws and Driskill knocking down 2 to seal the Lady Rockets’ victory.
Guess’ 34 points led all scorers, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Driskill also reached double figures with 10.
For Lyon County, Brown led the way with 18 points and 7 rebounds, followed by Collins with 12 and 9. Smith finished with 11 points and 4 boards, with DeFew scoring all 6 of her points in the fourth quarter.
