District rivals Tates Creek and Lafayette hope early struggles hone winning edge
They staged one of the most exciting 43rd District girls’ basketball championship games in years, a 64-60 overtime thriller won by a Tates Creek team that stumbled through a listless regular season but found its footing and its defensive identity come playoff time and became an opponent no one wanted to face.
Sadly, Tates Creek had to bow out of the regionals due to COVID-19, but Lafayette took that district title loss as motivation to help propel itself to the 11th Region finals.
This year, both the Commodores and the Generals brought almost their entire teams back for another run with great expectations. However, the 2021-22 season has not gone as planned thus far for either.
After knocking off No. 2 Clark County in its second game, Tates Creek (6-8) stumbled, losing six of their next seven.
“I wish I could explain it to you,” Tates Creek Coach Matt Yates said. “Sometimes teams don’t come together when they need to. I didn’t do a good job of bringing us together before the season, that’s all I can say. We’re still working on it.”
While Lafayette (14-4) has had more success on the court, it also suffered the devastating loss of their floor leader and best outside shooter, Lauren Walton, who tore an ACL in the Generals’ first game, ending her high school career.
“Our team has faced a ton of adversity this year,” said Lafayette Coach Allison Denton, whose team has also seen players go in and out of the lineup due to various minor injuries and illnesses. “There has not been any consistency all year … (but) the perseverance and how tenacious they’ve been, they just kept trying to figure it out. And in the end that will, hopefully, help us when it’s the end of February.”
Tates Creek wins midseason test
Friday night, Tates Creek recaptured some of the magic it found a year ago in a convincing 55-44 win over Lafayette that included an 11-0 run to start the second half thanks to the Commodores’ defensive pressure and transition offense.
“It’s called Pralltown basketball,” Yates said, smiling, remembering his days growing up in that Lexington neighborhood where you went all out or you sat out. “You play hard defense and as soon as you get that rebound — run. Be as fast as you can and go score. That’s never left me.”
Three Tates Creek players scored in double figures, led by Alisce Lyvers with 13 points. Maddie Kauffman, the Commodores’ usual leading scorer, was held to just four points, but she dealt a team-high five assists, most of them on the break.
“The key to it is just getting up in people and just going after it,” Kauffman said. “We want to make them uncomfortable. … If we’re playing good defense, it’s easy offense.”
Lafayette kept the game close in the first half despite allowing Tates Creek some spurts. And even in the second half, when their deficit grew to as many as 15 points in the third quarter, the Generals clawed back, narrowing the gap to three points, 41-38, with 6:59 to play.
“We know what these games mean. These girls grow up playing against each other, so they mean something,” Denton said before tipoff. “And usually everybody’s ready to bring their A game.”
Yates praised his team’s ability to fend off Lafayette’s rally.
“I said to them in the huddle, ‘Y’all know this team is going to scrap and fight to the end,’” Yates said. “And we know that about Coach Denton’s team. We’ve got a lot of respect for them. And I just told us to keep our poise. I said even if they start to get into it a little bit, remember, we’re ahead and we’ve just got to keep our poise.”
Five weeks to get things right
Anaya Brown, Lafayette’s 6-1 guard/forward and Tennessee Martin commit, led all scorers with 25 points and had seven rebounds and four steals. While Brown made nine of her 14 field goal attempts, her teammates struggled, making only seven of their 36 shots (19%), including going 1-for-12 from three-point range.
But there’s no panic at Lafayette. Friday night’s loss split the regular season series with Tates Creek and the Generals have wins over everyone else in the 43rd with three district games to play.
“They’re a wonderful good group of girls. I love them,” Denton said. “And they’re good workers, hard workers, and they try to do everything we ask.”
Since her injury, Walton has returned to the sidelines as a student coach and comes to every practice to share her knowledge and insight. Last week, Walton announced her commitment to continue her playing career at Midway.
“She’s been with the team every second,” Denton said.
Tates Creek’s Kauffman believes her team has turned a corner.
“I think the past few games, we’ve just been starting to come together,” Kauffman said, noting this season, like last, has also been marked by COVID-19 shutdowns for some players and other illnesses that have shaken up the lineup. “It’s just been inconsistent with who’s been playing.”
The challenge for Yates will be to keep his team healthy and playing the kind of defense they showed against Lafayette on Friday and against Clark County earlier in the season.
“I’ve felt like we’re catching that feeling of playing hard and just playing for one another. And it’s exciting to coach when that happens, but it’s hard to get to that place,” Yates said. “I will just be positive and try to encourage them to keep doing what they’re doing. …
“I know what we’re capable of. I’ve just got to get them to believe we’re capable of doing it.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2022 at 12:29 PM.
