By SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer
CNHI
1-5-11 — The Wayne County Lady Cardinals met Louisville Southern, last Tuesday afternoon at South Oldham High School Gym, in the final round of the Lady Dragons Holiday Classic.
The Lady Cards entered with a 3-4 mark opening the tournament with a 62-50 loss to Jefferstown and following that up with a 72-25 thrashing of Iroquois. Southern owned a 2-5 record and lost to both George Rogers Clark 59-38 and Martha Layne Collins 57-51, in the previous two rounds.
Wayne County grabbed the lead early and used a 15-4 second quarter run to own a 29-15 halftime advantage and held off a late Southern rally to take a 59-43 tournament win.
Hallie Gillespie totaled a game high 20 points, with 8 rebounds to pace the winners. The sophomore forward shot 9 of 18 from the field and 1 of 2 from the free throw line, in 29 minutes of action.
Kayla Bowlin added 16 points and a game high 9 assists, plus added 4 rebounds, as Wayne County enjoyed a 40-33 rebound edge.
Bowlin shot 6 of 16 from the field and 3 of 7 from the free throw line, while earning the praise of the head coach.
"Hallie ran the floor well and had a good scoring effort, but she was also able to get some buckets out of the offense, which is a reflection of Kayla's play. I thought Kayla did a really good job of distributing the basketball within the offense. As a team we had 16 assists, so I thought we shared the ball pretty well," said Lady Cards head coach Tim Pyles.
Samantha Sexton posted 8 points and 4 rebounds, while Kourtney Criswell tallied her best stat-sheet of the season. Criswell netted 7 points, a season best 8 rebounds, plus totaled 4 assists, while logging over 23 minutes of play,
The bench once again stepped up led by the 6 points of freshman guard Jamie Roberts. Roberts nailed 2 of 3 3-point attempts, while Bri Steele contributed 2 points, as six different Lady Cards scored in the win.
"Jamie hit a couple of big shots and the one in the second half was a dagger, that stopped a Southern run. I also thought Heather Rigney and Steele were solid off the bench and gave some quality minutes as well," said Pyles.
The Lady Trojans, which dropped to 2-6 were led by the 13 points and
7 rebounds of Sharonne Jackson. Jackson shot 5 of 9 from the field and 3 of 3 from the charity-stripe, in almost 28 minutes of action.
"Southern has a very athletic team and I was really impressed with the Jackson kid. She's one of the better athletes we've faced this season and a really nice post player. This was a good win for our team against an athletic team, in tournament atmosphere," said Pyles.
Keona Daniel shot 4 of 13 from the field to total 9 points, while Davice Woods posted 8 points with 5 rebounds, as seven different Lady Trojans scored in the contest.
Four different Wayne County Players scored in the opening quarter led by the 7 points of Hallie Gillespie, as the Lady Cards battled to a 14-11 lead. Woods and Jackson kept Southern close with 4 points each, in the first frame.
Gillespie added 6 points in the second stanza and Wayne County used a 15-4 run to roll to a 29-15 halftime advantage. The locals shot 45 percent from the field in the half, while Southern struggled to shoot
6 of 30 in the half.
"We got off to a good start and had a big second quarter and it was due to our transition game. We got some easy buckets out of our transition offense," said Pyles.
A trio of Lady Trojans netted 4 points a piece in the third frame, as the teams battled to a 14-14 draw, which left Wayne County with a
43-39 edge, after 24 minutes.
Kayla Bowlin led all players with 6 points in the final quarter and the Lady Cards ended the game with a 16-14 tilt, which left the final score at 59-43. The win marked Wayne's fourth in five games and evened the overall mark at 4-4, on the young season.
"We could have a better record and left a couple of great opportunities on the floor, but in eight games we've really only not showed up but once against Mercer County. We're getting good effort and improving as the season progresses. I know 4-4 maybe is not the best record, but after we started 0-3, it's a pretty good way to head into Christmas," said Pyles.
The Lady Cards shot 25 of 57 overall from the field for 44 percent and tallied on 4 of 16 3-pointers for 25 percent. The winners connected on 5 of 10 free throws for 50 percent and totaled 16 assists with 1 steal, against 14 turnovers.
Southern finished 16 of 55 from the field for 29 percent and shot 3 of 21 from 3-point range for 14 percent. The squad converted on 8 of 10 free throws for 80 percent and finished with 14 turnovers.
Up next for Wayne County is an appearance in the Mercer County Lady Titans Holiday Classic.
"Hopefully we can build on the momentum we've got from our last five games, but the tournament will be tough. Mercer County has made it one of the best events in the state with great competition," said Pyles.
Details on all the action in next week's Outlook.