Just two weeks after blasting Livingston Central 58-30 in the opening round of the 2nd Region All-A tournament, the Lyon County girls’ basketball team found things much tougher Monday night in Smithland.
The Lady Lyons needed 19 points and 15 rebounds from Calista Collins to hold off the Lady Cardinals 42-39, winning their second in a row and evening their record to 1-1 in 5th-District play.
The Lady Cardinals led by 5 with 2:30 left in the first quarter, before Lyon’s Collins scored in the lane to make it 9-6. Hadlie Butler hit one of two free throws for the Lady Lyons’ last point of the quarter, with Lauren Wring’s shot rolling off at the buzzer for Livingston.
Lyon County scored the first 6 points of the second, including a layup and a putback for Collins, to push ahead at 13-9. The Lady Cardinals closed to 15-13 on a Wring bucket, but a Collins basket down low and a Gracen Wynn runner pushed it back out to 6. However, Livingston finished the half on a 6-0 spurt to go to the locker room tied 19-19.
Collins scored 4 of her 6 third-quarter points on back-to-back possessions, followed by a putback by Ella DeFew, to give the Lady Lyons their biggest lead at 32-23 with 2:47 to play in the frame. Livingston’s Victoria Joiner and Lyon’s Butler traded baskets in the last few seconds to maintain a 9-point edge.
The margin was still 9 midway through the fourth before Joiner knocked down a jumper and scored on a pair of layups to pull Livingston to within 3. Emersyn Ramage followed with a bucket for the Lady Cardinals to trim it to 1 with two minutes to play.
But Livingston Central wouldn’t score again until the final seconds, and while the Lady Lyons only managed 2/6 from the free-throw line with two front-end misses, they held on for the narrow win.
Lyon County has a tough stretch of games coming up, with home matchups with Christian County, Trigg, and Caldwell ahead of a trip to Madisonville-North Hopkins.
Livingston’s next three are at home as well, with Dawson Springs, Ballard Memorial, and Carlisle County making their way to Smithland.
Lyon County 7 12 15 8 — 42
Livingston Central 9 10 6 14 — 39
Lyon County (5-3) — Collins, Butler 7, Wynn 6, Perry 5, Matthews 3, DeFew 2
Livingston Central (2-4) — Joiner 17, Wring 12, Croft 4, Ramage 4, Downey 2
