It did not come as easy as some might have expected, but the Madisonville-North Hopkins Lady Maroons are back in the 2nd Region semifinals for the second consecutive year. The Lady Maroons used a strong third quarter to break open a close game and advance by rolling past Crittenden County 70-46 in Monday night’s first game of the 2020 tournament at Christian County High School.
Early on in the contest, the Lady Maroons struggled to find their offensive rhythm. Madisonville committed 3 turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, as the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie. The Lady Maroons got things rolling a little bit better over the final three minutes of the quarter, outscoring the Lady Rockets 6-2 to take a 12-8 lead after the opening eight minutes.
While they were struggling on the offensive end, Madisonville’s 1-3-1 half court trap disrupted things for the Crittenden County offense, forcing the Lady Rockets to take shots from deep on the court, and creating turnovers. Crittenden County was able to hang tough thanks to a strong rebounding effort in the early going.
Crittenden County opened the 2nd quarter with four quick points to tie the game up for the third time at 12-12. Madisonville then went on an 8-1 run and appeared to have things in control at 20-13. In addition to the run, Natalie Boone picked up her 3rd foul and the Lady Rockets began to have significant problems dealing with the Lady Maroons’ 1-2-1-1 full court press. Despite committing 15 first half turnovers and the foul problems for Boones, Crittenden County stayed in the game, outscoring Madisonville 10-7 over the rest of the half to go to the break down only four points at 27-23.
A big reason the Lady Rockets were still in the game at the half was their hard work on the boards. Crittenden County outrebounded Madisonville 24-13 in the first half. The Lady Maroons had a big first half from the Peyton twins. Lindsey and Courtney combined to score 16 of the Lady Maroons 24 first half points.
The Lady Rockets continued to put up a fight in the early part of the 3rd quarter, trailing only by two at 29-27. But then the Madisonville press and half court trap began to really have an effect on the game. The Lady Maroons used turnovers to create easy baskets, and went on an 11-0 run to go up 40-27. When the quarter came to an end, the Lady Maroons held a 48-33 lead. Madisonville forced the Lady Rockets into 7 turnovers in the quarter, helping the Lady Maroons seize control of the game.
Over the end of the 3rd quarter and the beginning of the 4th quarter, Madisonville used a 10-0 run to blow the lead out to 54-33 and effectively deliver the knockout blow to the Lady Rockets’ upset hopes. The Lady Maroons would roll on out to pick up the 24 point win.
Madisonville was led by Courtney Peyton with 19 points. Camryn LaGrange and Lindsey Peyton each added 13 for the Lady Maroons. Amari Lovan also reached double figures with 11 points.
Taylor Guess topped the scoring column for Crittenden County with 12 points. Chandler Moss finished with a double-double at 10 points and 10 rebounds. Nahla Woodward added 9 points and 11 rebounds. Natalie Boone had 7 points for the Lady Rockets.
Turnovers were a big issue for Crittenden County, as the Lady Rockets committed 28 miscues in the game.
With the win, Madisonville improves to 28-1 on the season, and advances to Friday night’s first semifinal game. Crittenden County finishes the year at 18-11, after finishing as runner-up in the 5th District tournament.
SCORE BY QUARTER
MNHS (28-1) 12 15 21 22 – 70
CCHS (18-11) 8 15 10 13 – 46
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
MNHS: C.Peyton 19, L. Peyton 13, LaGrange 13, Lovan 11, Franklin 2, Zeiba 6, Hayes 2, McGowan 2, Carmen 2
CCHS: Guess 12, Woodward 9, Moss 10, Boone 7, Driskill 6, Perryman 2
