18TH DISTRICT GIRLS' BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Lady Raiders build lead, hold off LaRue (02/22)

GREENSBURG — With their frontcourt plagued by fouls Tuesday night, the second-seeded Hart County Lady Raiders looked to their backcourt to deliver against the third-seeded LaRue County Lady Hawks.

The senior trio of Lexee Wilson, Jordan Strother and Leah Burd answered the call.

Strother scored 12 of her 15 points in the final 16:01, Wilson finished with a game-high 20 points, and Burd matched LaRue County sophomore wing Ivy Brown with a game-high three assists (all for 3-pointers) as Hart County rallied for a 59-53 in the 18th District Tournament semifinals at Green County.

Strother gave Hart County its only lead (3-2) of the first half with a deep 3-pointer in the opening 47 seconds. LaRue County junior forward Alisha Durbin, whose big night included 15 points and 10 rebounds, answered 1:17 seconds later with a pair of free throws that started an 8-0 run that gave the Lady Hawks a 10-3 lead less than 4 minutes in.

“Even then, we never got our heads down because we knew it was going to be a dogfight,” said Strother, who also had eight rebounds and two assists.

A pull-up bank shot by freshman guard Alexis Brewer, who led all scorers with 23 points, gave LaRue County its second and final seven-point lead at 21-14 with 4:01 remaining before halftime.

Strother helped the Lady Raiders rally again.

Her 3-pointer in front of the Lady Hawks’ bench as time expired sent Hart County into the break tied at 24 with the Lady Hawks.

“That was definitely a momentum changer,” said Brown, who grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds but struggled from the field (1-of-9) and whose only field goal was a bank-in NBA-range 3 to beat the buzzer at the end of the first quarter. “We played pretty good defense on them, I thought, in the first half and to have it (the half) end like that was a bit of a heartbreaker for us.”

Hart County’s long-range marksmanship continued to break LaRue County’s hearts after the break. Strother, Burd and Wilson combined to go 4-for-8 from the arc in the second half, while LaRue County missed 10-of-11 attempts from 3 – with the lone make on Brown’s long bank shot.

“They shot the lights out,” LaRue County coach Travis Wootton said. “They hit seven 3s and we felt we needed to keep their number at five or below.”

In the teams’ three meetings this season, the winners averaged five made 3s, while the losers averaged just 1.33.

Strother was 1-for-8 from the arc against the Lady Hawks in the regular season before going 4-for-8 Tuesday.

“She played well and shot the ball well, but we didn’t get out on her,” Wootton said. “That was in the scouting report, to make her put the ball on the ground and force her to dribble.”

Defensively, Strother made it hard on Brown to dribble. After Hart County played a 2-3 zone in the first half, Strother drew the task of hounding Brown on her own in the second half. Brown took just one shot in the second half.

“Jordan did a phenomenal job on Ivy,” said Hart County coach John Burd. “We wanted Jordan to front her and make sure someone was always behind her.”

Thanks in a large part to Brewer’s ability to drive the lane and draw a blocking call, Hart County’s top three frontcourt players of senior Lindsey Burd (14 points, 10 rebounds), senior Molley Scott and freshman Tess Priddy all fouled out.

Lindsey Burd, a Campbellsville University signee who averaged nearly a double-double (12.7 points, 9.7 rebounds) in the teams’ three meetings this season, fouled out with 2:23 remaining on a drive by Brewer.

“We were in trouble because she’s the catalyst of our 1-3-1 zone. She’s tall and she can see over them,” John Burd said. “But the girls banded together and made some big shots.”

LaRue County has lost eight of its last nine district tournament meetings with Hart County. The Lady Hawks also missed out on a chance to beat Hart County twice in the same season for just the second time in 14 seasons.

Still, Wootton was pleased with what the Lady Hawks accomplished. In addition to ending a 16-year losing streak at Hart County in the regular season, LaRue County’s 17-11 overall record allowed the Lady Hawks to finish with their fourth consecutive winning season, matching the 1991-95 campaigns.

“It was solid,” Wootton said. “We’re obviously disappointed in how it ended. We feel other than one team in the region, Marion County, we felt we were in a group of about two to seven teams deep that could have made a splash in the region (tournament). Unfortunately we won’t get that chance this year.”

Nathaniel Bryan can be reached at (270) 505-1758 or nbryan@thenewsenterprise.com