The Hopkinsville girls’ basketball team built a 20 point lead, but had to hold on down the stretch to beat the visiting Logan County Lady Cougars 61-53 on Monday night. The Lady Tigers were coming off a loss on Saturday to Owensboro Catholic (6-1), and now stand at 7-2 on the season. The Lady Cougars entered the game on a five game win streak and had only lost once.
The Lady Tigers took an early 14-11 lead with junior point guard Breon Oldham getting to the rim, and after a three pointer by senior London Foster, junior guard Yogianah McKnight scored 5 straight to push the lead to 19-11. However, the Lady Cougars answered with a run of their own, and the Hopkinsville lead was 21-18 after the first quarter.
Hopkinsville began the second quarter on a 10-1 run, fueled by Rose, who scored the first 5 on the way to 13 in the quarter. After back-to-back layups by freshman forward Lakayla Samuel and another bucket by Rose, the Lady Tigers led 44-26 at the halftime break.
Rose’s 18 led the way, although she left some points at the free throw line, shooting 6-14. Oldham followed with 9, with Samuel and McKnight getting 6 each, and Foster adding 5.
The Lady Tigers looked to be in total control in the first 4 minutes of the second half, extending their lead to 52-32 on an Oldham layup. However, the Lady Cougars wouldn’t go away, and when Hoptown called a timeout with 1:33 left in the quarter, the lead was down to 52-43. By the time the quarter ended in an altercation that resulted in the ejection of a Logan County player, the Lady Tigers had restored their double-digit lead at 55-44.
Both teams found scoring difficult in the final quarter, with the Lady Tiger lead as high as 11, but down to only 6 with 2:30 left to play. From there, Hoptown went into the four corners offense, looking to let the clock run. With just over a minute left, Oldham sealed it with two free throws for the final 61-53 score.
Rose’s 25 paced the Lady Tigers, almost doubling her average of 12.6. Oldham followed with 15 and Foster scored 8. McKnight and Samuel both finished with 6, all in the first half, and sophomore guard Anna King added a point.
On Thursday the Lady Tigers go on the road for the Owensboro Invitational, where they’ll face off with Daviess County (2-6), followed by Henderson County (2-5) on Saturday, and Owensboro (4-4) on Sunday.