The next time they meet the stakes will be a bit higher. In a preview of a 1st round matchup in the girls 8th District tournament, the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers used defensive pressure to ignite their way to a 68-44 win over University Heights Saturday night at Blazer Gym. The win completed a regular season sweep of the two teams’ regular season matchups by the Lady Tigers.
UHA took the early 3-2 lead on three quick points by Lily Hendricks. Those would be the last points for a while for the Lady Blazers. Hoptown then finished the first quarter on a 14-0 run to take a 16-3 lead after the first eight minutes. The Lady Tigers held UHA scoreless for more the final 6:15 of the quarter.
As cold as they finished the first quarter, the Lady Blazers opened hot to start the second. UHA scored nine unanswered to cut the lead to 16-12 with 5:22 to go in the half. Hoptown roared right back with six in a row of their own to go back up by double digits at 22-12. Hopkinsville was able to push the lead on out to sixteen at 33-17 by the time the first half ended.
The third quarter turned into the Jayla Rose show, as the Hopkinsville senior took over the game for a good stretch of the quarter. The Lady Tigers opened the quarter 11-4 to run the lead on out to 44-21, and essentially put the game away. UHA finished the quarter on a 6-0 spurt to trim the lead to 44-27 after three.
Hoptown would continue to pull away during the 4th quarter, building the lead to as many as 26 points before settling in at the final 24 point margin.
Jayla Rose led all scorers in the game with 27 points for Hopkinsville. Yogi McKnight added 12 points, while Breon Oldham also reached double figures with 11.
Lily Hendricks paced the attack for UHA with 12 points. Meghan Adams added 10.
With the win, Hopkinsville locked up the #2 seed in the 8th District tournament. UHA will be the #3 seed. The two teams will play in the first round of the tournament which gets underway the week of February 18.