Monticello — The Monticello Lady Trojans met 8th Region foe Oldham County last Monday at Carroll County High School gym in the opening round of the North American Stainless Classic.

The Lady Trojans owned a 2-3 record and were coming off a disappointing 55-50 district loss at McCreary Central.

The Lady Colonels, one of the top teams in their region, owned a 5-4 mark and were coming off an impressive 76-50 win over Trimble County.

Freshman guard Jessica Leanhart scored 15 points and Emily Melton nailed three 3-pointers to tally 15 points, as Oldham County oused a 43-23 middle quarter run, en route to a 64-46 opening round win. Leanhart totaled 6 field goals and tallied on 2 of 4 free throws, as the Lady Colonels placed five scorers in double figures.

"We got off to a good start with a big first quarter and that's due to a big time first half effort of Lacey Alley. Oldham County has a pretty nice basketball team, they do a lot of good things working the inside to outside game. We just didn't play with the intensity needed in the second half to have a chance to win the basketball game," said Lady Trojans head coach Marla Kelsch.

Senior Brooke Leanhart tallied on 3 of 4 free throws and connected on 3 field goals overall to add 11 points. Ericka Hardin netted 10 points and Oldham County received a huge boost off the bench led by the 10 points of Emily Lape.

"Oldham County had players that can score from all five positions, but we have to do a better job on the defensive end. We allowed way too many offensive rebounds, plus we finished with way too many turnovers, so we gave them a lot of easy scoring opportunities," said Kelsch.

The Lady Colonels claimed a 51-42 rebound advantage and forced 32 Monticello turnovers, which converted to 14 points.

"Offensively our execution just wasn't there, we didn't step up when they had to double-team Lacey and make that hurt. It was certainly a very disappointing effort to the start of the tournament. After the first quarter we just didn't look like a team off the bus ready to go," said Kelsch.

Monticello, which dropped to 2-4 overall, was led by the game high 25 points and 15 rebounds of senior forward Lacey Alley. Alley shot 10 of 17 from the field, which included a 4 of 7 tally from 3-point range and marked on 1 of 2 free throws in over 30 minutes of action.

"Lacey played really well, especially in the first half, but we just didn't have anybody step up with her. She scored 20 points in the first half, so give credit to Oldham County once they double-teamed her, we struggled to put the ball in the basket. I really thought Lacey was our one player that got off the bus ready to compete," said Kelsch.

Cortney Morrow added 5 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while Malesha Hughes finished 3 of 10 from the charity stripe to score 5 points with 4 boards. Autumn Bell made 2 of 9 field goal attempts to score 4 points, while the trio of Brittney Crabtree, Tiara Duncan and Maggie Hopper all chipped in with 2 points each.

"We played a lot of people in the second half just trying to find a spark, but it was just one of those games. We must improve our offensive execution and need some players to accept the challenge and be ready to step up. We need some positive minutes off the bench," said Kelsch.

Mariah Hughes scored one point to round out the eigh different Lady Trojans in the scoring column.

Monticello opened the game with the hot-hand and used the 13 points of Lacey Alley to race to an 18-8 early lead. Alley drained three 3-pointers in the first quarter, while the Lady Colonels had four different players score in the period.

Oldham County answered back with 3 treys of their own in the second stanza and used a 25-14 tilt to push to a 33-32 halftime edge. Alley led four different Lady Trojan scorers with 7 points in the frame, to total 20 in the half.

"Lacey just had a tremendous first half and even though we lost the lead we were still very much in the game," said Kelsch.

The Lady Colonels kept the momentum in the third period and used an 18-9 run to open up a 51-41 advantage.

Monticello shot a dismal 1 of 9 from the free throw line in the final quarter and was outscored 13-5 in the final 8 minutes, as Oldham County rolled to a 64-46 win.

The winners totaled 25 field goals with 6 of those coming from 3-pont range and made 8 of 14 free throws for 57 percent. The Lady Colonels finished with 20 turnovers and 17 second chance points.

The Lady Trojans shot 18 of 58 overall for 31 percent and marked on 4 of

19 3-pointers for 21 percent. The squad etched on just 6 of 17 free throws for 35 percent and totaled 13 steals with 10 assists against 32 turnovers.

"We have to develop better offensive execution, which starts with making some shots, plus our rebounding effort intensity has to improve. We are just playing way too laxed," said Kelsch.

The loss dropped Monticello into a consolation round match-up with Ludlow. Details on the contest in a related story.