Whitley advances

Whitley County might have gotten off to a slow start but the Lady Colonels finished strong in rolling past the lowly Barbourville Lady Tigers, 59-34 Monday night in the first-round of the 50th District Tournament on the losers’ home court.
Whitley County coach Larry Anderson said his team was ready from the time he walked into the dressing room. “They were excited and ready to go,” he said after his team’s lopsided win.
“These are good kids and they work hard but the one ingredient that has been missing was enthusiasm,” Anderson said. “It was there last year but has been there this year until tonight.”
“When I walked into that locker room tonight, it was electric, you could feel it,” Anderson said. “It was like you were plugged into something.”
“That to me is the difference in the game,” he added.
“They proved to me that they are great kids, they came in ready to play tonight,” Anderson said.
Both teams got off to a slow start, failing to score trip after trip down the floor in the opening minutes.
It was 6-2 senior, Monica Mills, who scored first to put the Lady Tigers on the scoreboard with 5:45 in the opening period. Whitley County didn’t get their first basket until the 4:00 mark when Stephanie McCullah tied the game.
Whitley County went into a full court press and senior Samantha Daugherty went wild. The press led to a Barbourville turnover which led to a Daugherty rebound basket. She then stole the in-bound pass and scored to put the Lady Colonels ahead 6-2.
Barbourville coach Janet Jones called a time-out with 3:33 in hopes of settling down her team and the Whitley County defense. When play resumed Daugherty grabbed two straight passes from the Lady Tigers and went in for easy baskets in a twenty-second time frame.
By the end of the quarter, Whitley County, shooting for a record five straight district titles, led 17-4.
“She (Daugherty) got some steals and finished up,” Anderson said. “It this team starts finishing up as a team we are going to be pretty good.”
“We had 22 recoveries in the first half but only had 27 points, you should be scoring 40 or 50 points,” said Anderson. “We’re just not finishing up as a team right now but I think that will come. It’s not a lack of effort or lack of attitude, it’s just wanting to do it too badly I think. We just need to settle down a little bit.”
Anderson’s team have problems scoring in the second period when it had a chance to blow the game open even more. Daugherty scored the first basket of the second quarter but the Lady Colonels didn’t score again for nearly four minutes.
Mills got hot for the Lady Tigers and scored six of the next eight points as Barbourville closed to within seven (19-12) with 5:12 in the period.
However it was Whitley County (16-12) who finished strong, outscoring the Lady Tigers 8-4 and taking a 27-16 lead into the dressing room. Junior Stacy Perkins came off the bench to score two baskets while Daugherty added a bucket as well as senior Jessica Lowrie.
Whitley County put the game away in the third quarter when it outscored the Lady Tigers, 16-3. Senior Puddie Hibbs pushed the Lady Colonels ahead by twenty (39-19) with a free throw at the 1:43 mark.
The Lady Colonels continued to pull away early in the fourth quarter as they outscored Barbourville 11-4 in the first four minutes. Hibbs took charge and connected on two three point plays. Junior center Kayla Haynes gave the Lady Colonels its largest lead (54-23) with 3:10 left in the game. Anderson then took out his starters to enjoy the final minutes of the victory.
“We came ready to play tonight and now I’m not as concerned about losing as I was,” he said. “Eventually we’re going to lose, I just hate when it happens but I like our attitude right now.”
Daugherty finished with a team high 17 points while Hibbs tossed in 12 points. Mills led all scorers with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
Whitley County has one more elimination game before it reaches the district finals and heads back to the 13th Region Tournament. They will face Lynn Camp Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.

Whitley 59, Barbourville 34
Whitley Co. 17 10 16 16- 59
Barbourville 4 12 3 15- 34
Whitley Co. (59) – Daugherty 17, Hibbs 12, Perkins 6, Haynes 7, McCullah 6, Heather Jones 4. Lowrie 2, Osborne 2, Holly Jones 3.
Barbourville (34) – Grubb 4, M. Mills 22, W. Mills 4, Reid 2, Smith 2.