Taleia Mason made it happen early, Maegann Hardison led the onslaught in the middle, and the other five regulars sealed the deal, as the Logan County Lady Cougars crushed Cumberland County in the opening round of the Fourth Region Tournament Monday at Diddle Arena.
Logan trailed the Lady Panthers 13-8 after a quarter. The Lady Cougars were missing inside shots, as leading scorer Maegann Hardison picked up her second foul with 10.9 seconds left in the quarter when she brushed a Cumberland player with her belly.
Versatile guard Torrie Pollard was charged with her second personal 12 seconds into the second quarter. The two-time 13th District champion Lady Cougars appeared to be in serious trouble.
Then came to the rescue Taleia Mason, whose injured arm is so sore than she couldn’t do some of the pre-game drills. In a 20-second span, she hit a layup, made a steal and hit another layup. Less than a minute later, Kapreshia Powell made a steal and Mason hit a short jumper in the lane. Suddenly, Logan’s Ladies led!
Mason returned the favor by pulling down a rebound and getting the ball to Powell for an assist.
Mason was involved the next scoring play when Cierra Johnson made a steal and fired an assist to Mason. After a defensive rebound by Rachel Barnett, Brooke Barnes hit a shot on an assist by Mason.
Logan led 20-13 by shutting out the Lady Panthers for over a half a quarter with Mason totaling six points, two assists, a steal and a rebounder.
Coach Anthony Smith’s Lady Panthers finally got back on the board on a jumper by Kelsie Key with 3:41 left in the half.
The Lady Cougars led 25-19 at halftime. Mason had 10 points on five of five field goal shooting. The rest of the team was 3 of 17. Powell and Hardison each had 5 points. Barnett pulled down 6 rebounds with Mason and Barnes each having 4. Mason also had 3 of her team’s 4 assists with the other going to Johnson.
Hardison, who had played only five minutes in the first half because of fouls, took over the second half. Her steal and layup with 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter put Logan up 43-31 after three quarters.
Hardison hit 5 of 9 second-half shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. She also was 8 of 8 at the line (6 of 6 in the second half) and added 3 steals and 2 assists. She finished with a game-high 23 points.
Powell contributed 11 points and 5 rebounds. More importantly, she defended Cumberland County’s high-scoring all-region senior, Kayla Waid, until the Lady Cougar win was a sure thing. Six of Waid’s 14 points came in the final three and a half minutes of the game after Logan led 53-37. The Lady Cougars ran a diamond-and-two defense with Powell assigned to Waid one-on-one.
“We always ask K.P. to defend the other team’s best player, no matter what position they play,” Coach Finley Baird said about Powell in the press room after the game.
Powell said, “I appreciate the trust the coaches put in me and welcome the challenge to defend good players.”
Hardison was named Player of the game and was honored by both Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College (SKYCTC) and the Kentucky National Guard.
The Lady Cougars, who picked up their first regional win in five years, will play Coach Lavonda Johnson’s Bowling Green Lady Purples Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Score by Quarters: 1) CCHS 13-8, 2) LCHS 25-19, 3) LCHS 53-31, Final Logan County 62, Cumberland County 44
LCHS (62) Maegann Hardison 23, Taleia Mason 11, Kapreshia Powell 11, Torrie Pollard 6, Brooke Barnes 5, Rachel Barnett 4, Jessica Hines 2, Cierra Johnson, Emily Jones, Amber Carroll, Keechera Palacios, Ann-Meguiar Bouldin
CCHS (44) Kayla Waid 14, Ande Flatt 14, Kelsie Key 10, Keylee Stalcup 4, Brooklyn Wright 2, Amber Daniels, Blake Dial, Haley Wright, Cambria Vincent, Gracie Capshaw