During a 24-hour span this weekend, the Russellville Lady Panthers and Logan County Lady Cougars combined to guarantee there will be no Clash of the Lady Cats in the first round of the 13th District Tournament.
Not only did RHS win at Franklin-Simpson Friday night and LCHS at Todd Central Saturday, but both of them won decisively over the other half of the district lineup. They scored 62 points each and allowed the opposition an average of 40 points.
Those two results were more important to the Lady Panthers than to the Lady Cougars, since Coach Finley Baird’s LCHS team had already clinched the top seed in the tournament a week earlier. The Lady Cougars are now 20-2 against district opponents in the last three seasons these five senior starters have been playing.
Regardless of what happens in this Friday’s Todd-at-Russellville game, the Lady Rebels can’t catch RHS in the standings. Currently the marks are Logan 6-0, Franklin 3-3, RHS 2-3 and Todd 0-5. When they played in Elkton, Coach Cameron Jackson’s Lady Panthers won 51-36.
Here’s what happened this weekend:
Lady Panthers 62, Lady Wildcats 46
Sophomore Anastasia Dowlen had a game to remember. During the third quarter, she pulled down the 1000th rebound of her career, with two and a fourth seasons remaining to double that total or more.
By the end of the first quarter, Dowlen already had eight points and eight rebounds, leading her team to a 12-6 margin at that stop. By the calculations of WRUS’ Chris McGinnis, the young warrior totaled 21 points, 19 rebounds and 4 blocks on the evening.
On the other hand, the Lady Panthers’ other young star, freshman Amiyah Collier, scored just seven points. Three nights earlier, Collier and Dowlen had gotten in very early foul trouble, and their teammates weren’t able to pick up the slack in their absence. As a result, they handed Warren East a rare win.
Friday, the others came through. Macaria Hines scored 13 points and made some huge plays. Additionally, Chloe Whitescarver scored 7, Jordin Morris 6, Brinley Kees 4, and Jaylah Kees and eighth grader Crissy Higgins 2 each.
Franklin is still reeling from the foot injury suffered by their most experienced player, senior Evyn McCutchen, at mid-season. She hopes to play in the district tournament. Junior Kate Norwood did most of the scoring for the home team with 17 points, despite suffering an injury herself late in the second quarter. She returned in the second half.
With McCutchen unavailable, no senior played in this game. Jackson has no seniors and just two juniors on his RHS roster.
The Lady Panthers ran their record to 15-9 overall and 4-5 in the region. Coach Lex Lindsey’s Lady Kats fell to 9-14 overall, 7-10 in the region.
Lady Cougars 62, Lady Rebels 34
Lady Cougar Addie White has been on a 3-point binge, and she kept it going in Elkton. The senior forward hit 5 of 11 from long range, bringing her total on the season to 52. She’s hit 41.3 percent of her 126 attempts from long range this year. Coach Finley Baird—as most coaches would with that accuracy—encourages her to take advantage of those openings.
Peyton Vanzant was the team’s leading scorer going into this game by four points over her twin, Paige Vanzant. Paige, however, sat out this contest. They are averaging slightly over 12 points per game. Peyton went above that Friday, scoring a game-high 16 points, one above White. Vanzant hit 7 of 8 free throws.
Center Kennedy Nichols, who is averaging an almost identical 11.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, totaled 8 points and 10 rebounds in this one. Adding to her own night, White was second in rebounding with 7.
Junior Abby Hinton, who has been the top reserve most of the season, took up a lot of the slack in Paige’s absence with 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Additionally, Kadyn Costello scored 5, Gracie Christian 4, and Emerson McKinnis, Sierra Seiber, Gracie Borders and Reagan Christian 2 each.
Eighth grader Abby Williams led Todd with 8 points. Senior Jordan Weathers, who had an excellent all-round game, scored 7, and Emoni Fort added 6.
Logan improved to 11-13 overall and 8-6 in the region. Todd fell to 2-18 and 0-9.