After trailing for all but 20 seconds of the first half of Tuesday night’s meeting with Todd County Central, the Hopkins County Central girls’ basketball team used hot shooting and suffocating defense to roll over the Lady Rebels 63-44.
The win is the third-straight and fourth in five outings for the Lady Storm, improving their record to 5-5 overall. The Lady Rebels are heading in a different direction with their third loss in a row to stand at 7-10.
The Lady Rebels raced out to an early advantage and led 12-1 after Jamaia Coleman knocked down a pair of free throws with just over two minutes left in the first quarter. The Lady Storm scored the last 4 points of the frame and trailed by 7.
Todd Central still held a 7-point edge with 2:30 left in the second, but a 3-pointer by Bri Fritz jumpstarted an 11-1 Lady Storm run to close the half. Fritz scored 6 in the quarter and Emile Jones added 8, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with :20 left to give Hopkins Central its first lead at 24-21 at the break.
The Lady Rebels pushed back in front midway through the third after Alexis Taylor converted a 3-point play, but Madison Grigg scored the next 4 points to give the Lady Storm a lead they would never surrender.
Taylor scored 4-straight to trim the margin to 1, but Jones connected on her third 3 of the game and Fritz followed with a layup to give Hopkins Central a 38-32 edge with a quarter to play.
It was all Storm in the fourth, with back-to-back 3s from Grigg and Fritz stretching the advantage to 13 early in the quarter. Todd Central would get as close as 8 after another 3-point play by Taylor, but a 10-1 spurt put the game away for the Lady Storm.
Fritz scored 11 points in the fourth, with her last bucket coming with 2:04 left and a 59-42 advantage. Mercy Sutton scored the last 4 points of the game for the final margin.
Todd County Central will be on the road on Friday looking to put an end to the slide at Trinity (Whitesville). Hopkins Central will welcome Henderson County to Morton’s Gap on Thursday.
Hopkins Central 5 19 14 25 — 63
Todd Central 12 9 11 12 — 44
Hopkins Central (5-5) — Fritz 20, Grigg 15, Jones 13, Sutton 10, Peyton 3, Lynch 2
Todd Central (7-10) — Taylor 15, Williams 12, Chester 8, Coleman 5, Leavell 4
