J’Leigh Smith’s first free throw with no time showing on the clock in the second overtime Tuesday traveled 13 feet, landing in the lane in front of the goal. Her second one, however, nestled in the nets, sending the Logan County Lady Cougars to their home dressing room with a disappointing loss.
Coach Scot MacAllister’s team came within a click of the clock of winning their game before a 3-point shot by Hopkins County Central’s Lynn Campbell forced a second overtime. Then after the home team hit its first field goal of the two overtimes with 8.3 seconds remaining, Smith was fouled on a rebound shot with one-tenth of a second left on the clock. The timekeeper let the clock go to 0.0. And the game was decided.
Meanwhile about 30 miles away, the ladies’ men counterparts were being outscored 24-13 in the fourth quarter on the way to a 78-66 loss to the Butler County Bears.
Back at LCHS, the Lady Cougars were having trouble with two important phases of basketball—securing rebounds and hitting shots. They repeatedly had rebounds within their hands, only to see the ball either slip away or be knocked away. When they did get hold of the ball, they missed a number of close-in shots.
What they did well was hit free throws. The Lady Cougars hit 20 of 26 free throws, including 14 of 16 in the second half and the two overtimes. It was ironic that the Storm won on a free throw, since the visitors were rarely at the line. It was the second overtime before Hopkins Central was in the bonus. In fact, if the Lady Cougars had fouled Campbell before she could get off that 3-pointer in the first extra period, they most likely would have won.
Logan went into the game short-handed. Two starters, junior point guard Laura Hunt and sophomore forward Kapreshia Powell, watched the game in street clothes, both nursing shoulder injuries. Hunt’s is considered more serious. Getting the start in their places were junior Hannah Statton and freshman Taleia Mason.
Center Abbey Hinton gave the Lady Cougars a 4-0 lead, but HCC led 9-7 after a quarter. Fellow sophomore Meagann Hardison made a steal and hit a free throw, followed by her almost immediate 3-pointer. Half a minute later, she hit another trey, this one coming on an assist from Hinton to make it 14-13 Logan. But another half minute later, she picked up her third foul with four and a half minutes left in the half. She managed not to foul again until late in the first overtime when no one else was able to commit the sixth team foul Coach MacAllister knew his team needed.
After Megan Lindsey’s free throw gave the Lady Cougars an 18-17 lead, the visitors scored the final eight points of the half while the Lady Cougars were banging shots off the board.
Logan had a strong third quarter. Mason hit a 3-pointer and Hardison scored five straight points, three of them coming on an assist from Katelyn Jones. Then Lindsey scored five of the game’s next seven points to put Logan up 38-37 with 2:35 remaining in regulation. Still the Storm led 41-38 before Hardison hit her third 3-pointer of the game. That came with 54.3 seconds and no one else on either team scored again in regulation.
After Mason hit a pair of foul shots to start the extra period, Hardison, Mason and Lindsey went into a three-woman weave that lasted a minute and a half. Hardison went on to hit four free throws and Mason one more, but then came Campbell’s bomb, forcing the second overtime.
The only point the home team managed in all but eight seconds of the second OT was a free throw by Lindsey. Kaitlyn Orton and Asia White both fouled out for Hopkins Central, but Reita Moody Copeland gave the Storm a 2-point lead on a free throw. Hinton tied it on an assist by Hardison, but then came the winning free throw.
Hardison scored 19 points, Lindsey 10, Hinton 8, Mason 6, Jones 5 and Victoria Cates 3. In addition to Statton, Madison Alvis, Rachel Barnett and Deja Thompson saw extensive action for the Lady Cougars.
The Cougars trailed just 54-53 going into the final quarter in Morgantown. They had led 20-15 after a quarter, but by halftime the Bears were up 38-33.
Butler County had four big statistical margins to help its cause. The Bears had a 39-31 rebounding margin and made only 11 turnovers, as compared to 19 for the Cougars. The winners handed out 15 assists, the Cougars 10. And Butler County was better at the line, hitting 16 of 26 as compared to the Cougars’ 11 of 24.
Logan did shoot better from the field than the winners. Coach Lonnie Mason ‘s team hit 47.2 percent while the Bears had 41.5 percent accuracy. The Graham brothers, Torin and Tahmir, combined to hit 10 of 14 shots and Adam Wilkins went 5 of 6. Clint Knight got his only shot to fall, a 3-pointer, but the rest of the Cougars went 9 of 32.
Torin Graham scored 18, Ben Wright 13 and Wilkins 12 to lead the Cougars. Taylor Blakemore had 7 rebounds, Wilkins 6 and Wright 5. Graham added 5 assists with Blakemore and Wright getting 2 each. For Butler County, Trevor Jenkins had impressive marks of 24 points and 10 rebounds. Zeke Woodcock totaled 18 points in the Bears’ 10th win.
Score by quarters: 1) LCHS 20-15, 2) BCHS 38-33, 3) BCHS 54-53, Final) Butler County 78, Logan County 66
LCHS (66) Torin Graham 18, Ben Wright 13, Taylor Wilkins 12, Landon Stratton 7, Tahmir Graham 7, Clint Knight 4, Taylor Blakemore 4, J.R. Morrow 1, Ryan Basham, John Wilson Coots, Tucker Baldwin, Chris Neal
BCHS (78) Trevor Jenkins 24, Zeke Woodcock 18, Elijah Flener 12, Brandon Thomas 12, Zack Burden 6, Drew Henderson 2, Rex Henderson 2, Alex Hall 2, Alex Hudnall, Matt Moore, Jared Rose