CAMPBELLSBURG
Come tournament time, it doesn’t matter if you draw a team that you beat by 50 in the regular season: Every group comes to play to win.
While there wasn’t an upset victory, Edinburgh gave Trinity Lutheran’s girls basketball team all it could handle Friday night.
The Cougars, ranked No. 9 in Class A, used a big run in the fourth quarter to defeat Lancers 50-33 and advance to the Sectional 62 Championship at West Washington High School.
The Cougars (20-5) will play the host school tonight for the team’s first sectional title since the 2013-14 season, and third overall in school history.
Both teams turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes, but the Cougars were able to open game to a quick 5-1 lead, with all its points coming from Abby Hackman, by the 3:18-mark.
A 3-pointer by Piper Acton extended the Cougars’ lead to 8-2 before a pair of free throws by the Lancers’ Taylor Tatlock cut the lead to four points.
Back-to-back baskets by Sydney Jaynes and Savannah Harweger, and another score from Hackman, gave the Cougars a 14-6 advantage at the end of eight minutes of play.
The Lancers were aggressive in the opening quarter, drawing four Trinity fouls, but hit just 4 of 8 free throw attempts.
EHS went on a 5-0 run to start the second quarter, capped by a 3-pointer from Destiney Ramey, to cut the deficit to 14-11 with 5:49 left in the half.
The teams exchanged baskets down the stretch, and the Cougars would hold onto the lead at 22-17 at halftime.
At the break, the Lancers had shot 4-for-12 from the free throw line. Hackman accounted for 13 of the Cougars’ points at the break.
Out of intermission, the Cougars scored five unanswered points before a pair of scores by the Lancers’ Destiney Ramey cut the deficit to 27-21 with 4:36 on the clock.
In the final two minutes of the third quarter the Cougars went on a 6-0 run, behind four points by Hackman and a field goal by Acton, to lead 35-25 going into the final quarter.
From the 6:12 to 2:06-mark in the fourth quarter, Trinity strung together 13 unanswered points to build its lead to 50-29.
With the double-digit lead in hand, the Cougars worked the clock in its final ticks.
“I told the kids all week that I don’t care what Edinburgh’s record is: They are going to scrap,” Cougars coach Mike Lang said. “People were telling us that we beat them by 50, but we are not 50 points better than anybody. Edinburgh had a great game plan in the first half and we were lethargic. We got our focus back, changed our defenses up and tried to apply more pressure. At the end of the third quarter, start of the fourth, we applied a box-and-one and it disrupted what they were doing. I was pleased with our defense tonight and how we were patient on offense.”
Hackman led the Cougars with 24 points and Harweger chipped in 12. Tatlock, Ramey and Sidney Beier led the Lancers with seven points each.
Trinity won the rebounding margin 30-22 and turnover battle 12-13.
Lang said that tonight’s match up should prove a good one.
The Senators, ranked No. 10 in Class A, lost to the Cougars 61-55 on Jan. 4.
“We need some support down here,” Lang said. “This place is going to be loud and packed. We need support, and that’s what I’m asking for. They’re going to see a great basketball game down here.”