In the opening round of the Second District Tournament on Monday afternoon, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs punched their ticket to the region tournament by netting a program record 16 threes in their 91-7 win over Community Christian Academy.
“We’re shooting the ball a lot better, a lot more relaxed,” McCracken head coach Scott Sivills said following the win. “We love to see that going through the net. We had some struggles in the middle of January. We were getting open looks but couldn’t buy one. Now I’m seeing the confidence of all of our kids going forward, and that makes us a better basketball team when we put the ball in the net like that.”
In both the second and third periods, the Lady Mustangs buried five 3-pointers each, as Ella Shelbourne and Layton Owens made up a majority, the two finishing with 15 points from behind the arc. A 54-3 halftime score enacted a running clock in the second half, running the score all the way to 91-7 by the end.
Out of McCracken’s 16 threes, Shelbourne and Owens led the way with five a piece, followed by Mason Clements with three, Arri Brison with two, and Skater Houser with one. Kalissa Sullivan scored six of CCA’s seven points, burying a pair of threes.
McCracken has clinched a spot in the region tournament ever since the school’s inception, and are now on the hunt for their 11th consecutive Second District Title. Sivills says the key to capturing it is staying true to their game and the way they have been playing this last half of the season.
“We’re in the regional tournament. That’s the number one thing for us is to get there,” Sivills said. “Now it’s a matter of trying to be a winner going into the tournament draw on Saturday. We’re trying to get 11 in a row, which has never been done before. We’re beyond blessed. We’re working hard at the end of the season. Everybody’s tired. Now it’s the postseason, and everyone was to be excited about the postseason.”
The Lady Mustangs won the First Region Tournament three consecutive times from 2022-24. Coach Sivills believes this team is peaking at the right time, and can contend for the coveted title this year.
“We got some goals in mind that we want to reach in the next couple of weeks. I think we’re one of the three teams that can cut down some nets in March. We just know we have to take it one game at a time and see what happens. I know we’re playing some of our best basketball right now.”
McCracken will face the winner of St. Mary and Paducah Tilghman on Thursday night for the Second District Championship. That game will be held at McCracken County High School, with tipoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
MCCRACKEN CO.27 | 27 | 17 | 20 — 91
COM. CHRISTIAN ACAD.0 | 3 | 4 | 0 — 7
MCC- E Shelbourne 15, L Owens 15, M Clements 13, A Hammonds 11, M Ault 8, A Brison 6, S Houser 5, J Reed 4, L Hamilton 4, L Bolen 4, A Hughes 2, A Casebier 2, R Hill 2