By Adam Krohn
CHATSWORTH — The win didn’t come easy — most don’t for Murray County’s girls basketball team — but when the final buzzer sounded on Friday night, the Lady Indians escaped with a 44-41 win against Cass, their first this season in Region 7-4A.
The Lady Indians (4-18, 1-11 in 7-4A) snapped a 10-game skid by limiting turnovers and dominating on the boards.
“I’m about to cry I’m so happy,” said Murray County senior Mariah Parker, who had a game-high 14 rebounds to go with five points. “I’m just happy because we have not won one region game this year.”
In most of Murray County’s losses, overcoming a steep deficit has been its biggest problem. After the Lady Indians found themselves trailing 19-11 with a little more than four minutes left in the second quarter, though, they narrowed the Lady Colonels’ lead to 20-18 at halftime.
Lady Indians coach Traci Rankin said point guard Tember Marchant, who had 12 points, four assists and three steals, was the difference in keeping Murray County in the game.
“Her senior leadership on the floor helped a lot,” Rankin said. “Tember handled the ball really well tonight and didn’t turn it over much. We’ve been working on that. She made a difference on the floor by pulling the girls’ emotions up.”
The Lady Indians nursed a 31-29 lead after three quarters and could have put the game out of reach at the free-throw line, but were just 7-for-19 on foul shots in the fourth quarter.
But on a night when turnovers weren’t an issue for Murray County, the Lady Colonels (7-13, 2-7) made key mistakes down the stretch, enabling the Lady Indians to maintain control of the game.
“Turnovers,” said Cass coach Jamie Horton, “turnovers was all it was. We turned the ball over — you can’t do that — we didn’t box out, and that’s on me. Apparently, we (as a coaching staff) haven’t done a good job of teaching the fundamentals and that’s what gets you beat. So that’s about all I can say about it.”
Karli Timms had 10 points and five rebounds and Lindsay Watts had seven rebounds for the Lady Indians. The Lady Colonels were led by Liz Meyers’ 14 points.
In a late-starting boys game, the Indians hung with the Colonels for most of the game, but Cass’ run in the second quarter proved to be the difference in a 74-62 win over Murray County.
The Indians (7-15, 3-9) and Colonels (18-4, 9-3) were tied at 16 after one quarter, but Cass used a 19-8 second-quarter to go into halftime with a 35-24 lead.
The Indians were led by Taylor Patterson’s season-high 21 points. Seth Davenport had 17 points and Blake Hammontree had 10 points.
“Taylor played the best second half he’s played for us,” Indians coach Greg Linder said. “He shot the ball well and with confidence. When Taylor and Seth are playing that well together we’re a pretty good ballteam.”
The Colonels had four double-digit scorers, led by Henry Sheppard’s 16 points.
“I think our effort and intensity were all right,” Linder said, “but for whatever reason we went back to our old ways of being inconsistent in parts of the game, and it was the second quarter tonight. That cost us in the end.”
