The Christian County Lady Colonel opened fast and closed fast Saturday afternoon. It is what happened between that will cause Lady Colonel head coach Kiki Radford some concern over the next few days. Christian County jumped out to a 17 point lead on Apollo, saw the E-Gals rally to cut it to 2, and then exploded over the final six minutes to come away with a 79-60 win.
The Lady Colonels looked like they were going put this one away early Saturday afternoon. Leading 10-7 less than 3 minutes into the contest, Christian County then finished the rest of the quarter on a 15-7 run to lead Apollo 25-14 after one. Three point shots were a big weapon for the Lady Colonels early, as they connected on five 3’s in the first quarter, four of those by LaDeria Gold.
Christian County’s shooting and pressure defense continued to be a problem for Apollo for much of the second quarter. The Lady Colonels continued to increase the lead during the quarter, and after a three by Aaliyah Hampton late in the half, Christian County led by 17 at 42-25. Apollo made a little bit of a run in the waning moments of the half to cut the lead to 44-31 at the break.
Then, came the 3rd quarter. Christian County saw some foul problems develop, especially for center Trinitee Jackson, who this week signed to play college basketball at Arkansas State. With Jackson having to spend some time on the bench, Christian County seemed to lose its rhythm and Apollo seemed to find its stride. The E-Gals made a charge and had the lead down to three at 55-52 in the final seconds of the quarter. However, Apollo fouled Gold on a long three attempt at the buzzer, and Gold was able to make all three shots to end the quarter with Christian County in front 58-52.
However, the E-Gals were not quite finished. Apollo scored the first four points of the quarter to trim the lead to 2 points at 58-56. It was at that point that LaDeria Gold made two huge plays that effectively ended the game. With 6:20 to go in the game Gold drilled a deep three. Seconds later Gold made a steal and an assist, and suddenly a two point game was a seven point game, and the dam broke open from there.
By the time it was all over, Christian County had gone on a 16-2 run and it was game over, as the Lady Colonels pulled out to the final margin of 19 points, which ended up being the largest margin of the game.
Gold was 24-karat for the Lady Colonels Saturday afternoon, coming up with 25 points, including five 3-point shots. Ailiyah Hampton added 21, while Trinity McGee had 15. The E-Gals were led by Braelyn Rhodes and Lexi Shadowen with 14 points apiece.
The win, which was the 6th in a row for the Lady Colonels, improved their record to 16-4.
