STEARNS —
The Lady Raiders ended their regular season with an exciting one point win over Garrard County on Friday night and as a result assured themselves of finishing the season at the .500 mark at least.
The win gave them a 14-13 record heading into the district tournament which begins tonight as they hosted Wayne County.
Losses earlier in the week at home to defending state champion Rockcastle and at Pulaski County had brought them back to .500 just as they had been when they met the Lady Lions earlier in the season in a holiday tournament at Pulaski County. Then a 6-6 Lady Raider team fell 62-45 to Garrard who pulled away in the second half.
On Friday it seemed as if Garrard would be pulling away again as they extended a two point half time advantage into a 38-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
This time though McCreary was able to stop the Garrard momentum and get back into the game.
McCreary opened the final period with Candance Foster putting back her own miss inside to cut the lead to 38-31. That basket would be the beginning of a 10-0 run by Foster that put the Lady Raiders back on top just a little over two minutes later.
The Lady Raiders forced four Garrard turnovers during the run.
A pass from Lyndsey Vanover to Foster resulted in a three point play and then following her third basket of the quarter at the 6:00 mark Foster turned a Garrard turnover into another basket to pull the lady Raiders even at 38-38.
Garrard’s coach was called for a technical after disagreeing with a non call of what he thought wa a foul. Foster was the recipient of two free throws due to the disagreement of which she hit the first giving McCreary a one point advantage that would end up being very significant.
A McCreary turnover led to a basket to put Garrard back on top but McCreary countered with a score from Kaylee Cotton to put Central back up 41-40 with 4:11 to go.
Three Lady Raider turnovers within a minute of play helped Garrard to run off a string of six unanswered points which gave them a five point advantage, 46-41 with 2”43 remaining.
Junior Kisha Gibson hit a huge three pointer at the 2:20 mark and Foster followed with a basket thirty seconds later to tie the score at 46-46.
A basket by Cotton with 1:14 remaining again tie the score but Garrard would hit one of two free throws with :44 left to retake the lead.
McCreary’ offense worked patiently for a shot but could not find a suitable one until the clock had ticked below twenty seconds. Gibson finally found just enough opening to get up a three pointer but she missed badly. The airball hit near the baseline and continued to bounce over it but Cotton was able to leap out and save the ball back in before it hit the floor. Cotton threw the ball hard and low back inbounds and her save took a fortuitous bounce off the leg of a Garrard County player. The deflection bounced straight underneath the goal where Gibson was just arriving after following her shot and provided her with an easy basket to put McCreary up 50-49 with the clock showing eleven seconds.
Garrards final attempt at a game winning shot from three point range bounced off the front of the rim just before the horn giving the Lady Raiders reason to celebrate.
Candance Foster led McCreary with 16 points while Kaylee Cotton added 15 and Kisha Gibson 11. The Lady Raiders lone senior, Amber Richardson started but did not score
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Related Photos
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Central’s Kisha Gibson puts up the game-winning basket much to the dismay of Garrard’s Devin Napier. The ball deflected off of the left of a Garrard County player to Gibson who was alone underneath. Chris Hollis
Lucky Bounce Leads to Game Winning Basket by Gibson
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