Lady Cards swat Magoffin County 66-48 in 57th District Tournament
BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PAINTSVILLE, Ky. — The Martin County Lady Cardinals punched their ticket to the 15th Regional Tournament by swatting the Magoffin County Hornets 66-48 Monday night in the 57th District Tournament at Paintsville High School.
The Lady Cardinals will play for back-to-back district titles Thursday at 7 p.m. against the Paintsville Tigers for the fourth time this season.
The gym was packed out and rocking as both teams brought crowds of fans.
Coach Robin Newsome’s Lady Cardinals had defeated the Hornets twice during the regular season, and the Martin County faithful came to see a repeat.
“I’m so proud of this team. It’s hard to beat a team three times, but these kids got the job done,” said Newsome. “It was a big-time atmosphere, and the girls started a little nervous. Once we settled down, we played a lot better.”
The Lady Cards kept their fans happy, winning the first quarter 11-7. Katie Marcum got the Lady Cards on the board with a three-point play at the 7:09 mark. Alyssa Allen scored off an assist from K. Marcum to put the Lady Cards up 5-2. Brooke Marcum knocked down a 3-pointer off an assist from Chloe May at the 2:02 mark to make it 9-5. With 45 seconds to go in the quarter, B. Marcum found K. Marcum for a basket to push the lead to 11-7.
Magoffin’s Kennedy Williams scored all seven points for the Hornets.
Allen picked the ball and hit L. Williams for the lay-in to put the Lady Cards up 18-13 with 4:54 on the clock in the second quarter. At 4:38, L. Williams stole the ball and found B. Marcum in transition for the layup to stretch the lead to 20-13. Martin County won the second quarter 14-13 behind six points by L. Williams to take a 25- 20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
K. Marcum grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at the 6:42 mark to get the third quarter underway. Kennadi Mollette knocked down a 3-pointer on an assist from L. Williams at the 5:45 mark to widen Martin County’s lead to 31-24. With 4:21 on the clock, K. Marcum found Sophie Harless on the block for a layup to make it 33-28. L. Williams found Harless in the corner; the freshman tickled the twine for a 3-pointer to make it 36-28 with 3:30 to go.
The Lady Cards broke the game wide open in the remaining time to finish the third in front of a 50-35 lead. L. Williams led the Lady Cards with nine points while the team went 9 of 13 from the free-throw line.
Martin County won the final frame 16-13 and cruised to the victory to give the Cardinal faithful what they came for.
“We will have to bring our A game Thursday to get the job done,” said Coach Newsome. “We will get back in the gym and work on our free throws the next two days.”
L. Williams led Martin County with 23 points and four assists. K. Marcum finished with a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. B. Marcum added 10 points and four boards, Allen netted six points and three rebounds, Mollette tossed in seven points and grabbed three boards, and Harless chipped in six.
Karah Lafferty led Magoffin County with 21 points. K. Williams followed with 10 points, Angel Mullins finished with six, Abby Barnett scored four, Macy Williams chipped in three, and Emily Sluss and Abigail Bradley each had two.
The Lady Cards improved to 24-5.
