Have you seen the television commercial in which all the burdens of work and daily life fall at the guy’s feet in the shower? The stress of having gone
a long time without reaching the regional tournament recently fell off the shoulders of Coach Scot MacAllister and his Logan County Lady Cougars
Tuesday.
Playing on their home court, the Lady Cougars won their first postseason game in MacAllister’s five years as coach, beating Todd Central 49-45 in the
opening round of the 13th District Tournament. With the win, LCHS advanced to Thursday’s district finals at home Thursday and next week’s
Fourth Region Tournament at Diddle Arena on the campus of Western Kentucky University.
The third win over Todd Central this season didn’t come easily for the Lady Cougars, nor did they expect it to. The Lady Rebels led by as many as five
points in the second half, and the score was tied at 44-44 with less than a minute to go.
Logan broke the tie for keeps when Kayla MacAllister scored on an assist from Sara Speck with 50 seconds left. Jaylin Jones and Ann Dorris each hit a
free throw to build the lead to four, but Todd’s Ariel Johnson hit a foul shot to make it just a one-possession lead with 11.9 seconds remaining.
As she had done in a win over Russellville in mid-season, Lady Cougar Markita Pheal made a late steal and hit a free throw with six seconds left to
seal the deal.
MacAllister was pleased with the determination his team showed in its 16th win of the season. “I didn’t want to say anything about it before
the game, but we had lots of problems to overcome tonight,” he said. “Sara was running a fever with a viral infection, Meagan Williams had a deep
bruise on her leg, Miranda Rone still isn’t healed from her injury, and Michelle England had to talk the doctor into letting her play with a broken
thumb, but they hung in there and made it happen.”
Speck- who has been a key player for four years, as has England- finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. MacAllister chipped in nine points, including
hitting a 3-pointer with 5:44 showing to give the Lady Cougars a 39-37 lead. She also had eight rebounds.
Logan burst out to a 6-1 lead to start the game with Speck scoring two baskets, and Dorris hitting the other in addition to firing an assist to Speck
for one of hers. The Lady Rebels, after taking two early timeouts, zoomed ahead 13-8 before Jones scored on an assist from Williams with 11.1 seconds
left in the first quarter.
Williams recorded another assist by getting the ball to MacAllister for a basket, and then Williams hit a 3-pointer to give Logan the lead. Pheal had a
rebound basket, Dorris hit a runner, and Speck canned a trey to give the home team a 24-20 lead, but Todd had cut it to 26-23 at halftime.
With Johnson leading the way, the Lady Rebels went up 31-26, but Jones tied it on a long 3-pointer. Johnson’s goal after an LCHS turnover put Todd up
35-33 at the end of the third quarter. The Lady Rebels built the lead to four, but England didn’t let the sore thumb get in the way of a 3-pointer of
her own before MacAllister bombed her go-ahead 3-pointer.
Johnson led Todd Central with 16 points but got only 3 of 8 free throw attempts to fall. The Lady Rebels were plagued with 19 of 34 free point
accuracy. Logan wasn’t quite that good at the line, going 10 of 21. The Lady Rebels finished with an 8-15 record.
Score by quarters:
1) TODD 13-10, 2) LCHS 26-23, 3) TODD 35-33, Final)
Logan County 49, Todd Central 45
TODD (45)
Ariel Johnson 16, Claire Hart 6, Evie Turner 6, Lauren Addison 5, Demetria Rose 3, Taylor Snardon 3
LCHS (49)
Sara Speck 17, Kayla MacAllister 9, Jaylin Jones 7, Ann Dorris 5, Markita Pheal 5, Michelle England 3, Megan Williams 3, Elliott, Rone