Lady Cats Overcome Sluggish Offense With Defense, Advance To "All A Classic" Finals

Peyton Martin puts up a shot against McClean County on January 16, 2017.

Darren Doyle, story: Jerika Simon, photos:
Although the Lady Cats' offense was sluggish and even sloppy at times last night, their solid defense and hustle helped them defeat McClean County in the semi-finals of the All A Classic Region 3 Tournament last night in Cloverport, 42-27.

"Offensively, it was a whole lotta ugly tonight," said coach Kevin Jackson. "But I'll tell you what--defensively, these kids got after it. They laid it on the line. When you hold McClean County, which is a nice ballclub to 27 points in four quarters, which is less than a point per minute, you've done a heckuva job. I was tickled to death. We outrebounded them, and they were bigger and stronger than us."

Edmonson County struggled to hit shots and missed several wide open layups and short jumpers. It was their second-lowest point total in a win this season. 

Defensively, however was a different story. The Lady Cat pressure came in the form of a full court trap, half court trap, and tight man-to-man, which caused all sorts of problems for the Lady Cougars.

Caitlin Simon goes for two of her 16 points against McClean County.

McClean County's turnover issues kept them struggling to score, and even though the Lady Cats only shot 35% from the field, it was enough to get the win. 

The Lady Cats started off leading 11-5 after the first quarter and led 24-18 at the half. Edmonson County extended their lead to 37-23 in the third quarter and held on through a very low-scoring fourth quarter that saw only a combined total of nine points scored for both teams.

Skylar Lewis puts up a shot against a McClean County defender in the All A Classic.

The Edmonson County Cheer team helps get the crowd fired up in the All A Classic.

Caitlin Simon led the Lady Cats with 16 points and 5 rebounds, and was the only Lady Cat in double figures. Also helping in the effort was Katlin Collins with 8 points and 5 rebounds, Skylar Lewis and Maddie Cline had 6 points each, Peyton Martin added 4 points and 7 assists, and Abby Alexander scored 2 points.

The Lady Cats now advance to the finals of the Region 3 All A Tournament and are scheduled to take on Owensboro Catholic at 6pm on Thursday, January 19, 2017 in Cloverport.

They improve to 14-5 on the season, which is the best record in the third region. They are 4-2 in region play and 3-0 against District 12 teams.

The Wildcats are scheduled to take on McClean County tonight in the boys' semi-finals around 7:45pm. The WildcatsLive crew will broadcast the game live on EdmonsonVoice.com.

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