BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PAINTSVILLE — Playing before a packed gymnasium the Martin County Lady Cardinals did not disappoint Friday night at Paintsville. The Lady Cards rallied from 12 points down late in the third quarter to pull off a 66-63 win.
A loud and proud Martin County crowd arrived early to support the Lady Cards and Cardinals in a girls-boys doubleheader with District 57 rival Paintsville.
Martin County coach Robin Newsome described the atmosphere.
“Nothing beats a small Eastern Kentucky packed-out gymnasium with a hostile environment,” Newsome said. “This one had the atmosphere of March Madness. The floor was slick, the kids couldn’t hear anything from the bench, the fans were enjoying cheering for their teams, and you could just feel the energy. It was amazing.”
This game had all the ingredients for a storybook ending—and it did just that. Senior Laken “LW3” Williams drilled a last-second 3 at the buzzer to propel the Lady Cards to victory. Teammates and fans rushed to the court shrouding Williams and the team to celebrate the moment.
Martin County made a remarkable comeback from being down the entire game. At the 2:11 mark in the fourth quarter, Williams came up with a steal and assisted Brooke Marcum up ahead. B. Marcum drew the foul and completed the and-one to put the Lady Cards in front 63-62.
After a slow start to the game, Martin County trailed 7-0 early in the first quarter. B. Marcum got the Lady Cards on the board with a basket at 5:14 to make it 7-2. Katie Marcum led the quarter with six points for Martin County.
Paintsville was firing on all cylinders, knocking down treys from all over the court in the first quarter. The Lady Tigers hit 60% from the field to go up 22-16 heading into the second frame.
Both teams cooled off offensively in the second quarter, with the Lady Cards going an ice-cold 3 for 11 for 27%. Paintsville held on to a 32-27 lead at halftime.
The Lady Cards trailed by as much as 12 in the third quarter and had to fight their way back. Down 43-31, Coach Newsome called a timeout at 4:39 and instructed in a passionate chewing, “It’s time to go,” calling for the Lady Cards to press. With 15 seconds remaining in the quarter, a Paintsville player was hit with a technical foul and the Lady Cards gained possession. B. Marcum found a lane and drove for a layup to cut the deficit to 52-45 as the horn sounded to end the third quarter.
Little did the Lady Cards know, but the comeback was on.
With 5:58 to go in the fourth B. Marcum got an offensive rebound and putback to narrow the gap to 56-48. At 5:09 K. Marcum pulled down a rebound and went back up for two to make it 56-50. The momentum had shifted and the pep section and Martin County fans roared. Williams drained a 3 to cut Paintsville’s lead to 56-53 with 4:51 left in the game. Paintsville answered, going up 60-53. B. Marcum got a steal and scored to make it 60-55.
The Lady Cards pressure was creating havoc for the Tigers and causing them to commit several turnovers.
With 2:53 to go in the game Chloe May scored on an assist from Williams to close in 62-57. Then Williams struck again, draining her third 3-pointer of the game on an assist from K. Marcum to narrow the deficit to 62-60 with 2:27 to go.
She followed that with a steal and assisted B. Marcum up ahead.
B. Marcum drove in for the layup and was fouled. She completed the and-one to give the Lady Cards their first lead at 63-62. The Lady Cards were finally back in business in a fast and furious game.
As Paintsville pushed the ball down the court, the Lady Cards were whistled for a foul. Kylie Kinner went to the line and made one of two free throws to tie the score 63-63 with 1:10 remaining.
Emilea Preece drove the lane on the Tigers’ next possession with 17.9 seconds to go. The shot hit the rim and came off in the corner. Candace Spaulding found the loose ball and tied Preece up for the rebound. The officials called a jump ball possession arrow in favor of the Lady Cards.
K. Marcum got the call down low for the last-second shot, but Preece blocked it out of bounds. Lady Cards would inbound the ball underneath their basket with 8.4 seconds to go. Senior Kennadi Mollette inbounded to Williams, who took five dribbles to the left of the top of the key and received a screen from Marcum with the clock winding down. With 1.9 seconds left, Williams went up for the 3. The ball seemed to hang in the air before it swished through the net at the buzzer. Her teammates and fans mobbed her after she hit the shot.
“What a game,” said Coach Newsome. “My kids stepped up and made big-time plays that did what we needed to win the game. I credit our defense for this one. We didn’t shoot the ball as well as we can, but we forced 28 turnovers for the game. This was a total team effort.”
Newsome praised Spaulding, saying she gives the team “a big lift off the bench on defense.”
“We had several kids stepping up and making unbelievable plays in crucial situations—kids just playing their roles and doing whatever it took for us to win.”
Newsome said her players were struggling, coming into the game off a loss earlier in the week.
“The snowstorm really set us back,” she explained. “We were just getting in a rhythm after the double-overtime win over Notre Dame. Then we only got to practice two out of nine days during the snowstorm. It threw us off, messing with our conditioning and our shooting.”
Newsome’s team managed to get in a couple of practice days before heading to Paintsville.
“I felt like we were about 75% heading into this game,” said the coach. “Our kids never gave up and played their hearts out. They worked through a lot of stuff on the court and stuck together in a hostile environment to pull it out. I love this team. When we play with passion and energy, good things happen.”
Newsome also gave a shoutout to the Martin County fans, pep section and pep club president Lance Tackett.
“They showed up and showed out loud,” she said. “They were our sixth man the entire game.”
Looking forward, Newsome hopes the weather will cooperate so the team can get in the gym and practice.
Williams led Martin County with a game-high 23 points, chalking up five assists, nine deflections and five steals. B. Marcum completed a double-double with 17 points and 10 deflections, hitting 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. K. Marcum had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. May scored nine points and tallied two assists and two steals. Alyssa Allen flipped in three points and grabbed four rebounds as she defended one of Paintsville’s best players. Eighth grader Maci Maynard netted two points and three boards. Mollette and Spaulding defended two of Paintsville’s best players. While this stat does not always show up on the stat sheet, the Lady Cards pressure defense played a huge factor in the comeback.
Preece led Paintsville with 20 points, Kinner finished with 16, Karah Lafferty added 10, KK Vannoy netted nine, Emma Keaton chipped in five, and Shay Music contributed three.
The Lady Cards completed the 2-0 sweep over the Lady Tigers to move to 14-6 on the season.
