Lincoln withstands Lady Raider attack

If only…

If only a few more shots went in, if only a few more balls bounced their way, if only…
That phrase sums up the Lady Raiders’ 54-46 loss to Lincoln County Monday night, their fifth defeat in a row.

Despite some tough defense and outstanding rebounding, the Lady Raiders just couldn’t get the ball through the rim enough to overcome an early deficit and dropped a heart-breaking game.

Despite the loss, Coach Darry Burkett was pleased at the effort and said he saw signs that the team was progressing the way he expected them to.

“I was very proud of how they played tonight,” he said. “This team’s biggest issue is self esteem. When we got down big early, we had an opportunity to fold -and they didn’t.”

“That sent me home as happy as I could be with a loss. As long as we compete, that is all I ask of them. On three different possessions in the second half we were down 6 with the ball and a chance, but just couldn’t get another basket. They competed, and they’re playing as hard as they can play.”

The Lady Raiders found themselves in a hole early, but quickly righted the ship and fought their way in to contention.

McCreary didn’t get on the scoreboard until nearly five minutes had passed in the first quarter, but their defense kept them in the game and gave the Lincoln County Lady

Patriots a battle to the end.

Trailing 8-0 with 3:18 to go in the first quarter, Kaylee Cotton hit McCreary’s first basket of the game, seemingly waking up the offense. Lauren Phillips and Paige Neal quickly followed with three-pointers and the game was on.

The two teams played almost even in the second quarter, but the Lady Raider defense was proving to be a deciding factor. McCreary had plenty of opportunities to score, and limited Lincoln’s, but they couldn’t overcome the deficit.

Despite getting several good shots off in the first half, those shots just didn’t want to go in. The misses, along with 10 turnovers proved to be the difference as Lincoln County took a 28-18 lead into the locker room at the break.

McCreary came out for the second half looking to claw their way back and opened the third quarter on a 9-5 run to close the gap down to just 6 points. Lincoln County responded and managed to maintain at least a 6-point advantage throughout the rest of the game.

With 3:20 to go in the final quarter, the Lady Raiders had, perhaps, their best chance to close the gap, trailing by just 6, but an ill-timed turnover stole the momentum away and Lincoln held off the rest of the McCreary rallies to earn the win.

Kaylee Cotton led the Lady Raiders with 26 points, followed by Paige Neal with 12, followed by Lauryn Phillips and Allyson Anderson with 3 each and Cyndol Kiser with 2.

The loss dropped McCreary’s record to 9-12 on the season and was their fifth consecutive loss.

The Lady Raiders’ next three games are at home. Thursday night they will host Model, West Jessamine at 4:30 on Saturday and Clinton County Tuesday night at 7:30.