The Lyon County girls’ basketball team battled to a 67-63 overtime win over the visiting Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado on Thursday night. The Lady Lyons win their second straight and stand at 4-2 on the year, while Paducah Tilghman slips to 3-5, and are in the midst of a four-game skid.
Lyon County began the game throwing over the Paducah Tilghman full-court pressure for layups, and led 10-7 with 2:03 left in the opening quarter. Freshman forward Calista Collins scored 6 points for the Lady Lyons and they led 14-11 after the first eight minutes.
Paducah Tilghman led 20-18 a little over halfway through the second quarter, but after a 3 point play by junior Allison Murphy, who can only be described as a point power shooting forward center, Lyon County led 23-20 with just over two minutes left in the half. Murphy brought the ball up, scored, rebounded, and collected assists all night for the Lady Lyons, and is as indispensable as any player to any team. Tilghman stayed in the game with their defensive pressure, and continued to turn the Lady Lyons over, but Lyon led 27-23 at halftime after a jumper by senior shooting guard Sophie Bingham.
The Blue Tornado began the second half on a 8-2 run, taking a 31-29 lead with 5:23 left in the quarter. After Murphy had back-to-back blocked shots, Bingham nailed a three-pointer to even the score at 32. Errant passes continued to plague the Lady Lyons, and Tilghman took advantage to build a 41-37 lead heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was back-and-forth throughout, with the Blue Tornado taking a 4-point lead on multiple occasions, until a Murphy free throw tied the game at 51 with 2:53 left to play in regulation. Neither team could go up by more than a basket, and a converted layup and a foul by senior Hannah Holloman tied the game at 54 with just over two minutes left. With Tilghman up 56-54 and only 45 seconds left, sophomore guard LuLu Taylor got a rebound and a putback to once again tie the game. After a layup by Murphy, Lyon got the ball back on a turnover with only 15 seconds left. The Lady Lyons threw the ball into the backcourt on the inbounds pass, but a Blue Tornado player’s pressure caused a Lyon County walking call, giving Tilghman the ball down 2 points with 3.8 seconds to play. The initial shot was blocked, but Tilghman came up with the loose ball and scored at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
The overtime was tight as well, and with under a minute left Lyon’s Taylor stepped to the line and knocked down two free throws to take a 65-63 lead. After trading free throws, Holloman sealed the win with a layup and foul with 12.9 seconds to play, giving the Lady Lyons a hard-fought victory.
Murphy poured in 24 points for the Lady Lyons, while Bingham had 16. Collins tallied 14, and Taylor and Holloman both scored 6. 7th grader Cathryn Brown also had a basket.
Lyon County has a quick turnaround, as they welcome Union County (1-4) to Eddyville on Friday night.