All “A” Dreams End

The run to the 13th Region All “A” title and trip to the state tournament ended for the Lady Jackets of Williamsburg Tuesday night in Harlan with a 60-52 loss.
Despite an outstanding effort by Williamsburg’s Kat Hoffman who had 24 points, the Lady Jackets didn’t shoot well according to assistant coach Andrea Ellis.
“Our shots were not falling tonight,” said Ellis.
Williamsburg (8-5) fell behind 15-10 at the end of the first quarter but outscored the Lady Dragons, 16-10 in the second period and led 26-25 at the half.
But, a 17-11 run in the third quarter was too much to overcome.
Kelli Bryant added nine and Shawnda Lovett had eight.

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With leading scorers Shawnda Lovett and Kat Hoffman in foul trouble, Williamsburg coach Jim Rains needed someone to step up for his Lady Jackets Monday night in a first-round 13th region All “A” Tournament game against host Barbourville.
That player turned out to be sophomore Whitney Rains, who scored 19 points to lead the Lady Jackets to a four-point, 45-41 win over the Lady Tigers and allowed Williamsburg to advance in the battle of the 13th region small schools.
Actually, Rains had two players to step up as freshman Samantha Burr hit two huge baskets for the Lady Jackets. The first came after Barbourville had scored six straight points to take the lead for the first time in the game. Williamsburg had led by as much as 11 points in the second half.
It was a two-minute draught in the fourth quarter that nearly spoiled the Lady Jackets bid to pull off the win. Down 37-33, Burr hit a three pointer from the right side and Rains followed with another long shot to put the Lady Jackets back on top, 39-37.
Ashley Banfield was able to tie the game at 39-39 before Kat Hoffman scored on a lay-up then added a pair of free throws for a 43-39 score with 1:53 left. Burr scored on a rebound basket with 1:18 left to give the Lady Jackets the win. She had a chance to put Williamsburg ahead by six but missed the front-end of a bonus with just under a minute left.
“Whitney Rains and Sam Burr came in an shot the ball well for us,” said Rains. “Sam had a really big three late in the game.”
“We had youth out there tonight,” he added. “We had an eighth grader (Lakin Ayers), a freshman (Burr) and two sophomores (Hoffman and Rains) who played very very well for us. I thought Brittani Peters (5-11, junior) did a good job on the back boards.”
Williamsburg led most of the game and had an 8-6 lead at the first stop. Hoffman scored all eight points in the opening period.
Ayers hit a three pointer to start the second period and Williamsburg expanded its lead but couldn’t put the game away early. After pulling within four, Lovett, the leading scorer knocked down her only two points of the night followed by four points from Rains as the Lady Jackets stretched the margin to eight, 15-7.
Barbourville (7-5) pulled back within four but back-to-back baskets by Rains gave the Lady Jackets a 21-14 lead at the half.
Rains started the third period with back-to-back baskets as Williamsburg took its biggest lead of the game just before Barbourville took a timeout with 6:28 in the period.
The Lady Tigers returned to the floor and went to a man-to-man defense that caused havoc for the Lady Jackets. Williamsburg went six minutes without a score. Peters went to the line with :50 but missed two free throws. Rains finally broke the draught with a basket that gave Williamsburg a 27-22 lead. The Lady Jackets led at the end of three, 29-25.
“They broke us down in the second half,” said Rains. “They tried to go one-on-one. They were running patterns in the first half then in the third quarter they started going one-on-one.”
“The Mills (Callie) is hard to guard,” said Rains. “She has a good move, a very good first step.”
Rains was happy to see Hoffman stay focused late in the game. “She got killed down there on the baseline a few times and they didn’t call it,” said Rains. “But, she kept her head up and didn’t get discouraged and that’s the sign of a good player.”
If Williamsburg can grab a win at Harlan, the Lady Jackets will return home for the semifinals Thursday night. Regardless of the four teams, Williamsburg will host the final four with the winner of the 13th region taking on the 9th region winner at 9 a.m. Wednesday, January 31 at EKU’s McBrayer Arena.
“If we can get back home, I think we will have as a good of chance as anybody,” said Rains. “There is about five teams that have a good chance of winning it and one of those (Barbourville) is eliminated. The winner of Harlan and us has a good chance of winning it. As good as anyone in the other bracket.
Games played last night matched Pineville at Evarts, Middlesboro at Cumberland, Red Bird at Lynn Camp and of course, Williamsburg at Harlan.

Williamsburg 45. Barbourville 41
Williamsburg 8 13 8 16- 45
Barbourville 6 8 11 16- 41
Williamsburg (45) – Lovett 2, Hoffman 16, Rains 19, Ayers 3, Burr 5, Peters 0.
Barbourville (41) – Smith 5, Abner 2, C. Mills 14, Banfield 18, W. Mills 2.