Lady Rockets down Dawson Springs 77-54

Crittenden 77, Dawson Springs 54

Crittenden 19 37 48 77

Dawson 7 13 29 54

Crittenden - Hodge 25, Tabor 22, Leidecker 11, Brantley 6, Johnson 5, Graham 2, Franklin 2, Courtney 2, Roberts 2, Mattingly, Head. FG. 24. 3-pointers 9 (Hodge 2, Tabor 4, Leidecker 3). FT. 2-5. Fouls 25.

Dawson - Lanham 14, Mills 5, Monroe 13, Hatton 7, McKnight 11, Black 2, Sutton 2. FG. 16. 3-pointers 1 (Lanham). FT. 19-35. Fouls 10.

After a six-day layoff between games due to snowy weather, the Lady Rockets got back on the winning track with a 77-54 road win at Dawson Springs Monday night.

They jumped out to a 23-7 lead in the first half and were never headed as guards Jessi Hodge and Laken Tabor had great performances to lead their team to victory.

Tabor had 22 points, five rebounds and four assists connecting on four of her team’s nine treys.

Meanwhile, Hodge only came up one assist and three rebounds shy of a triple double. The junior point guard poured in 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out nine assists as the visitors seized control of the contest from the outset.

After Crittenden experienced some early foul trouble, they switched to a 3-2 zone to try and protect any more players from getting into deeper trouble.

Lady Rocket coach Shannon Hodge was happy with her team’s defensive performance in spurts, but still wants to see a more consistent effort on that end of the court.

“We’re not handling screens as well as I would like for us to,” she said after the game.

Offensively, the visitors burned the nets up, shooting 33-of-64 for a tremendous 51.5 percent. That included an impressive 9-of-19 performance from three point land - the most treys they have made in a contest this season.

“Its nice to get a win that did not come down to the wire. You’ve got to be happy about that,” said Hodge.

The assist-to-turnover differential was also glaring in the contest. Crittenden handed out 20 assists compared to 13 turnovers, while the Lady Panthers only had one assist opposed to 15 turnovers.

Hodge also praised the play of young freshman Randa Leidecker, who scored 11 points, handed out a pair of assists and recorded a steal.

“I was glad to see her have a good night,” the Lady Rocket coach about her freshman.

One area she was displeased in was her team getting outrebounded 46-31 as well as surrendering 23 offensive rebounds against the Lady Panthers.

Another thing she disliked was the fact that her team sent the hosts to the free throw line 35 times in the contest. Although they only made 19-of-35 free throws, the Lady Rocket skipper knows they can’t afford to put an opponent on the line that many times.

Conversely, Crittenden only had five free throw attempts and Hodge believes they need to be attempting around 20 per game.

Eleven different Lady Rockets got in the game as their lead never dipped below double digits when they took the commanding first quarter advantage.

Rockets drop game to Webster in OT 53-49

Webster 53, Crittenden 49

Crittenden 11 21 31 43 49

Webster 4 16 32 43 53

Crittenden - Oliver 16, Clark 7, Nielsen 12, Porter 9, Gray 5, Pierce, Highfil. FG. 16. 3-pointers 2 (Gray, Oliver). FT. 11-20. Fouls 17.

Webster - Scott 22, Winstead 10, Doyles 7, Little 5, Turner 2, Baker 2, Tapp 4, Maver 1, Pitman, Harting. FG. 12. 3-pointers 5 (Scott 5). FT. 14-22. Fouls 17.

Although playing some of the best basketball they have put together this season, in the first half Tuesday at Dixon, it was still not enough to stave off Webster County as the Rockets dropped a hard-fought 53-49 decision in overtime.

Crittenden (3-9) had a tremendous defensive effort in the first half mixing things up between a 2-3 and 3-2 zone. It helped limit the Trojans to only one field goal in the first quarter as the visitors took an 11-4 lead at the conclusion of that quarter.

Webster continually misfired from the perimeter making just 1 of their first 9 treys.

After leading 21-16 at halftime, the Rockets were outscored 11-6 to begin the second half and the hosts knotted the game for the first time at 27-all, thanks to an old-fashioned three-pointer.

Trailing 39-37, Rocket point guard J. D. Gray put his team back on top connecting for a trey with 3:52 left in the third period. After losing the lead, Webster got burned long in their full court pressure defense as Patrick Nielsen extended the lead to 42-39 on a layup.

But in the end, surrendering 17 offensive rebounds and a bad 11-of-20 performance at the free throw line came back to haunt the Rockets as they could not pull an upset against one of the better teams in the Second Region.

Trailing 43-42 with :04 ticks left in regulation, Nielsen was fouled and went to the line for a chance to give his team the lead. But he missed the first and made the second to take his team into overtime.

Rocket off guard Casey Oliver was the only player who shot better than 50 percent for his team-going 3-of-4.

The tone was set early in overtime as the hosts controlled the opening tip and the Rockets allowed them four shots before getting fouled on that first offensive possession.

Leading 47-45, Scott connected for one of his five treys, giving his team a 50-45 lead they would never relinquish.

Oliver scored four of his team’s six points in the extra frame to keep Crittenden in striking distance, but it was still not enough to pull the upset.

After being defeated by 19 by the Trojans last month at home, Rocket coach Chad Hayes was pleased with his team’s play in the opening half.

Hayes lists Webster as the third-best team in the Second Region and was proud of his team’s effort throughout the contest.

Middle School Scores

Middle school Statistics

Livingston Co. 39, CCMS 8th-grade boys 37

Livingston Co. 11 16 22 39

Crittenden Co. 8 13 25 37

Scoring - Aaron Owen 13, Tristan Cullen 13, Travis Gilbert 6, Taylor Champion 3, Brenden Phillips 2. 3 pointers 3 (Owen, Cullen, Gilbert)

CCMS 8th-grade boys 62 St. Anns 54

Scoring - Owen 24, Gilbert 9, Cullen 16, Champion 4, Phillips 3, Tinsley 6

Caldwell 30, CCMS 7th-grade boys 22

Scoring - Young 7, Watson 2, Dickerson 2, Jo. Enoch 2, Ja. Enoch 7, Dempsey 2

St. Ann’s 44, CCMS 7th-grade boys 23

Scoring - Young 3, Watson 1, Dempsey 4, Jo. Enoch 6, Driver 5, Hadfield 3, Deboe 1

Livingston Co. 34, CCMS 8th-grade girls 33

Livingston Co. 8 18 26 34

Crittenden Co. 6 15 21 33

Scoring - Bailey Brown 16, Abby Whitney 6, Mallory McDowell 5, Maggie Collins 4, Kayla Davis 2. 3 pointers 2 (Brown, McDowell)

Ladies’ shooting, rebounds lead to 59-49 loss

Trigg 59, Crittenden 49

Jan. 5

Crittenden 9 19 32 49

Trigg 9 22 34 59

Crittenden - Hodge 21, Johnson 10, Courtney 4, Tabor 9, Brantley 2, Brown 3, Franklin, Graham. FG. 19. 3-pointers 2 (Tabor, Brown). FT. 5-12. Fouls 17.

Trigg - Matlock 24, Kearney 8, Want 8, Maxey 6, Futrell 6, Grubbs 4, Parker 3, Wortham. FG. 20. 3-pointers 3 (Maxey, Kearney 2). FT. 10-18. Fouls 16.

A sluggish defensive performance coupled with surrendering 19 offensive rebounds brought the Lady Rockets unbeaten streak in Fifth District play to an end Tuesday night at Cadiz as they fell to Trigg County 59-49.

In a first half that featured three ties and numerous lead changes, the Lady Wildcats managed to take a 22-19 lead into intermission.

After holding Trigg center Ashley Matlock to 12 points in last month’s 71-52 victory at Rocket Arena, she had a heyday in Tuesday’s rematch.

She poured in 24 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and recorded three steals as the hosts prevented Crittenden (4-6, 3-1) from claiming a stranglehold on the top seed for the postseason tournament.

Trailing 22-17 with less than :05 ticks left in the first half, Lady Rocket forward Whitney Johnson (10 points, 10 rebounds) scored right before the buzzer to bring her team even closer in a seesaw second quarter. She also scored her team’s first six points of the second half as they claimed a 25-22 lead less than 2:00 into the third quarter.

At that juncture it appeared the visitors may have weathered the storm against the pesky Lady Wildcats and were ready to get things rolling.

But Trigg had other ideas as they ran off seven unanswered points to claim a 29-25 advantage and would never trail again during the remainder of the contest.

The Lady Rockets’ low post defense struggled most of the way as Trigg had their way in the paint all night long.

While the rebounding statistic ended deadlocked at 45-all, it was 19 Lady Wildcat offensive rebounds and 12 second chance points that helped them get revenge for the earlier season setback.

Points off the bench were also a big key in their win as they outscored Crittenden 12-3 in that area.

Crittenden shot 21-of-62 from the floor for an icy 33.8 percent as no player shot over over 40 percent. While the hosts were not a lot better for the game, going 23-of-61 for 37.7 percent, they shot much better in the second half going 15-for-30.

After the lackluster performance, Lady Rocket coach Shannon Hodge lamented that her squad has yet to put a consistent 32:00 of solid basketball together this season.

“We somehow run out of legs,” she said, also pointing to a lack of conditioning.

Despite her team defeating the Lady Wildcats by 19 last month, the Lady Rocket skipper did not believe her team would have an easy time in the rematch.

“I don’t think you ever go to Trigg County and think it is gonna be easy. I thought they played well,” said Hodge.

Another frustrating thing to her was that with a pair of district wins this week, the Lady Rockets could have been in the driver’s seat for a number one seed for the Fifth District Tournament.

While that is still attainable, Hodge believes Tuesday’s loss makes the district race more interesting.

“The district is very competitive. You can’t count any game before you play it,” she said.

Rockets down Dawson Springs 51-41

Crittenden 51, Dawson Springs 41

Jan. 5

Crittenden 8 24 40 51

Dawson 12 14 25 41

Crittenden - Oliver 18, Porter 10, Gray 9, Clark 7, Nielsen 4, Highfil 3, Pierce, Gardner, Belt, Collins, Scott. FG. 20. 3-pointers 2 (Gray, Highfil). FT. 5-12. Fouls 19.

Dawson - Cobb 28, McKnight 12, Fambrough 1, Burden, Lobrodo, Miller, Bullock, Chapelle, Smiley, McWilliams. FG. 11. 3-pointers 2 (McKnight). FT. 13-19. Fouls 14.

Moving senior J. D. Gray to point guard helped the Rockets snap a four-game losing streak Tuesday night as they upended host Dawson Springs 51-41.

Gray scored nine points and handed out three assists and his move to the point also allows leading scorer Casey Oliver to move to his more natural position of off guard.

After the Rockets (3-8) fell behind 12-6 after 8:00 of action, a big 16-2 run in the second quarter ensured that they would never trail again, while winning their first road game of the season.

Crittenden stretched the lead out to 40-20 in the second half and did not allow the Panthers to ever climb back in the game afterwards.

Rocket coach Chad Hayes did not allow his team to get caught up in the Panthers’ being winless on the season. He thought they played pretty decent after a slow first quarter.

“They don’t have a win, but they have been playing alot better,” he said.

He was pleased with Gray’s play and believes it will bode well for the Rockets as the season continues.

“I felt like tonight J. D. took the next step,” said Hayes, about the senior’s most extensive work as the floor general this season.

Although Dawson only had three players to score and only made 11 field goals, going 13-of-19 at the charity stripe prevented them from being totally blown out of the contest.

Conversely, Crittenden only made 5-of-12 free throws, which is a continued area of concern for Hayes, who knows that must improve if they are to start winning on a consistent basis.

Oliver scored 18 points while senior forward Alex Porter turned in a good outing with 10 points and five rebounds.

The Rockets will try to even their league record at 2-2 tomorrow night when they travel to Smithland to face Fifth District archrival Livingston Central.

Crittenden has not defeated the Cardinals in Smithland since 2005.