The Logan County Lady Cougars had a major upset within their grasp Friday, but they couldn’t hold on to that grasp. Too many times the ball slipped through their hands or clanged off their rim on close-in chances late in the game. As a result, heavily favored Todd Central escaped from the district contest with a 63-58 win.
The Lady Rebels have become a 13th District and 4th Region power. Coach Steve Phillips’ team has not only won the last two district championships but has also made it to the regional semifinals both years. The nucleus of those two teams returns, although Todd was without one of its key weapons in junior sharpshooter Maggie Simons, who had hit five 3-pointers in the first half at Russellville the week before. She has a leg injury.
Logan had a super first half and led 32-25 at the intermission. But the Lady Rebels took over the third quarter. Katelyn Jones of Logan scored the second half’s first goal on a rebound, but then Todd’s Arial Johnson and Claire Hart combined to score 19 of the next 20 points in the quarter. The visitors led 44-35 going into the final quarter, a 16-point turnaround.
“We didn’t show up in the third quarter,” said veteran Lady Cougar coach Scot MacAllister.
Logan had two players of its own to play big in the fourth quarter. Junior Laura Hunt and sophomore Maegann Hardison both started hitting from long range. One of Hardison’s treys cut a 10-point lead to three at 58-55 with 3:19, and a long-range goal by Hunt with 49 seconds made it 62-60.
Two costly miscues loomed big in the Lady Cougars not getting any closer. Todd’s Julia Fox hit a free throw but when she missed the second one, the ball fell on the floor between Hunt and Kapreshia Powell, both of whom seemed to be giving ground so the other could rebound it. Johnson outhustled them for the ball, maintaining possession for the team with the lead.
Then when Hunt aggressively pulled down the ensuing defensive rebound and moved the ball quickly downcourt, she drove the lane but dished off to Jones, who couldn’t handle it. The ball went back to Todd. Fox, Hart and Demetria Rose hit clinching free throws.
“We’ve got to do more with the ball when we get it inside,” MacAllister said. “We’re getting good looks and good shots, but we’re not scoring enough when we do.”
Hunt led Logan County (2-7 overall, 0-2 district) with 19 points, 12 of them coming on 3-pointers. Hardison totaled 16 points, all but one of them coming on treys. Jones added 12. Ariel Johnson scored 22 and Hart 15 for the Lady Rebels (5-2, 0-2).
The Lady Cougars had eight days off between games, and MacAllister said he is using the time to work on his players being able to finish inside. Logan plays at West Tennessee Saturday afternoon.
TODD (63) Ariel Johnson 22, Claire Hart, 15, Julia Fox 9, Demetria Rose 9, Faith Johnson 6, Savannah Foister 2
LCHS (58) Laura Hunt 19, Maegann Hardison 16, Katelyn Jones 12, Kapreshia Powell 6, Victoria Cates 3, Megan Lindsey 2, Rachel Barnett, Taleia Mason