Three-peat escapes Lady Rockets at Lyon

Bristyn Rushing, who tied her personal
scoring record, pulls down a rebound.

EDDYVILLE, Ky. – As long as grasses grow and rivers flow, beating Lyon County at Eddyville in girls’ basketball is going to be tougher than chewing down the edge of a bone.

Crittenden County’s second-quarter 15-point lead wasn’t even enough to hold the fort as the Lady Lyons beat Crittenden County 77-74 in the Fifth District Tournament championship Thursday, spoiling the Rocket girls’ hopes of trimming the district nets three years in a row. 

It would have been an unprecedented post-season run for the CCHS – which had won the last two district tournaments – but Lyon was on point in the last half, overcoming a deficit that could have wilted most opponents.

Home-court advantage came complete with a couple of scoreboard malfunctions, flashing white lights because someone pulled the gym’s fire alarm at one point and then there was another brief fourth-quarter delay to clean popcorn off of the floor.

None of it rattled the home-standing Lyons. 

Trailing by a point with just over a minute to go, Crittenden turned the ball over on a five-second call trying to inbounds the ball at midcourt. From there, Lyon had an opportunity to run some valuable time off the clock before Elliot Evans gave up her fifth foul to stop the timer, sending Lyon guard Piper Cotham to the line with 52 seconds left. Cotham sank both foul shots then dropped in a couple more seconds later after CCHS turned the ball over on a jump ball in front court, and fouled the Lyon point guard again. 

Crittenden’s Anna Boone hit a three from the top of the key with 14 seconds to go, pulling her team to within one again, 75-74, which kept the crowd engaged for a time. However, Cotham’s last two free throws with two seconds left sealed the deal.

District Tournament Runner-up

Both teams will advance to next week’s regional tournament. The draw will be later this week to set the pairings for next week’s tournament, which is at Trigg County.

Crittenden (19-13) will see a first-place district winner in the regional while Lyon (21-9) will get a first-round opponent that finished runner-up in another district. District winners across the region are Lyon, Henderson, Madisonville and Christian County. Crittenden will play one of those teams and Lyon will face either Hopkins Central, Hopkinsville or Union County.

Boone, who scored 27 in the championship game, was chosen Fifth District Player of the Year and teammates Jordyn Hodge and Evans were named to the all-district team.

Crittenden forward Andrea Federico scored a career-high 16 points and center Bristyn Rushing tied her career best with 14, but it still wasn’t enough to help CCHS overcome Lyon’s home-court edge.

Crittenden 25 47 59 74
Lyon County 20 44 62 77
CRITTENDEN – Boone 27, Evans 7, Hodge 8, Federico 16, Rushing 14, Stewart 2, Holeman. FG 29. 3-pointers 8 (Boone 4, Evans, Hodge, Federico 2). FT 8-12.
LYON – Taylor 15, Cotham 28, Corsey 4, Wynn 12, Akridge 1, Holland 9, Perry 8. FG 27. 3-pointers 10 (Cotham 4, Wynn 4, Holland). FT 13-17.