For the 11th consecutive year, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs are Second District champions after taking down St. Mary 59-31. McCracken held the Lady Vikings without a field goal for 15 straight minutes, starting in the first quarter stretching all the way until the third, a key factor in their win.
“It wasn’t pretty the entire four quarters, but we found a way to play well in our spots,” McCracken head coach Scott Sivills said following the win. “Our defense carried us the entire night, but we found a way to put together four decent quarters and come away with a championship.”
The opening stages of this game were just exchanges of runs by each team. McCracken County’s Mason Clements, who celebrated her 1000th career point and breaking the single-season three point record for the school, knocked down a triple to cap off the Lady Mustangs’ 9-0 run to open up the scoring. Although McCracken is celebrating their 11th in a row, this district title is the first for the newcomer Clements.
“Well it’s my first one, so it feels great. I’m so grateful to be here with my friends and all my coaches,” Clements said. “It’s been amazing. I wasn’t expecting (McCracken) to be this great, but I’ve been welcomed and I’m so grateful for that.”
“I don’t where we would be record-wise without her and what she’s done for our team and our program,” Coach Sivills said about Clements. “She has really brought into our program, our standards, and our expectations. She has really come in every single day and has given us a complete and supreme effort in practice. She’s really helped us offensively the entire year. When we have to have a big bucket, she really stood up and gave us one.”
After the hot start, St. Mary responded with eight straight of their own including baskets from four of their five starters. Unfortunately for the Lady Vikings, the conclusion of that run is where things took a turn, as McCracken held them without a field goal for the next 15 minutes, lasting the entirety of the second quarter. A few free throws by Annabelle O’Neill minimized the damage, but by the time the run was over after Alana Thomas got one to fall, the Lady Mustangs held a 38-14 lead.
“We found a way to defend them early in the game,” Sivills said. “I thought in the second half, we lost our poise and our competitiveness at times, but I thought our defense early on in the game really carried us.”
The contest evened out at this point, but the lead was too large for the Lady Vikings to mount a comeback, as the final buzzer sounded with McCracken on top 59-31. Ten different Lady Mustangs found the bottom of the net, none of which scoring in the double figures, a true display of a team win in the postseason. Ava Hughes, Mason Clements, and Reagan Hill all tallied nine, which was a team high. Annabelle O’Neill led the Lady Vikings in scoring, also with nine.
Both squads will move on into the First Region Tournament next week. The teams will know their opponent after the tournament draw on Saturday, the Lady Vikings taking on a district champion, while McCracken will face a district runner-up. Now at 24-8 on the year, Coach Sivills believes this team still has another net to cut down.
“You have to win three games up there in Murray,” Sivills said. “We’ll find out here Saturday morning at 9 with the draw, but we have to put three complete games together. We could possibly be a dark horse. I think the eyes are on either Calloway or Marshall, but I think we’re capable of pulling off an upset.”
Following the contest, the District All-Tournament team was announced, recognizing the players who performed at the highest level in the postseason. The list of representatives from all four schools include:
McCracken- Ava Hughes, Mason Clements, Reagan Hill, LeZharia Bolen, Abby Casebier
CCRACKEN CO.16 | 17 | 15 | 11 — 59
ST MARY8 | 4 | 10 | 9 — 31
MCC- A Hughes 9, M Clements 9, R Hill 9, L Hamilton 6, A Casebier 6, L Bolen 6, M Ault 5, A Hammonds 5, S Houser 3, J Reed 1