43rd District Tournament: Top seeds Lafayette, Lexington Catholic advance
The 43rd District basketball tournament’s No. 1 seeds came by their victories in much different fashions on Wednesday night.
Lafayette’s girls gritted out a 55-53 overtime decision against Tates Creek while Lexington Catholic’s boys led by double digits through most of their 62-54 win over Lexington Christian Academy. The roads traveled yielded the same postgame emotion: relief.
“I love them with my whole being,” said Lafayette head coach Allison Denton. “The only thing I wanted to do was cry when it was over because of the relief for them. They weren’t nervous to play, they just didn’t want it to end.”
The end nearly came for the Generals on their home court. Tates Creek, seeded fourth with a team comprised mostly of the same parts that helped it win the district championship a year ago, nearly had a three-point shot fall in regulation as time expired. The Commodores had the final possession of the overtime period, too, and got a good look at the basket that would have forced a second extra period.
Lafayette’s size advantage bothered Creek early but the Commodores adjusted well enough to take a three-point lead into the halftime locker room. The teams exchanged small leads throughout the second half and overtime, largely from the free-throw line: the Generals finished 17-of-22 from the stripe to the Commodores’ 20-of-31 clip. The teams combined to miss seven straight free throws in the extra period before Generals star Anaya Brown (30 points, 13 rebounds, three steals) made one to cement the final score with 41.5 seconds left. The Miss Basketball finalist was 14-of-15 from the free-throw line.
“We did everything in our possibility to keep playing,” Brown said.
Lafayette’s next-leading scorer, Tess Nelson, had just seven points, but the freshman had five assists and made some of the most timely shots of her young career. Her three-pointer with under three minutes to play tied the game at 47, and she put the Generals ahead, 51-50, on a pair of free throws with a minute remaining in regulation.
“She is going to be excellent,” Denton said. “She is what we love at Lafayette. A smart kid, hard worker, coachable. We tell her something one time and she’s got it figured out, and she doesn’t play with fear. You could see that tonight.”
The Generals will play Lexington Catholic, a 50-36 winner of Paul Laurence Dunbar on Tuesday night, in the finals at 6 p.m. Friday.
LexCath vs. LCA
Wednesday’s renewal of the “Holy War” wasn’t as dramatic as some of the team’s showdowns in recent district tournaments, but it was no less stressful for the favored Knights, at times this year ranked in the Associated Press top 10 and considered one of the favorites to cut down the nets in Richmond next week.
Lexington Catholic pushed its record against district competition to 9-0 this season behind a nearly flawless night from star junior Reece Potter, who made all 11 of his shot attempts and went 7-for-10 from the free-throw line to end with 29 points. The 7-foot-1 center chipped in seven rebounds and two steals while playing all but 15 seconds of the game.
One of five Kentuckians ranked among Rivals’ top 150 players in the class of 2023, Potter is one of just six players with that distinction — and the only kid in the commonwealth — listed at 7-foot or taller. When he’s in a rhythm, teams that boast reasonable size have a difficult time stopping him. He made multiple shots and connected on several passes as two and three defenders collapsed his way on Wednesday. A quick catch-and-shoot jumper on the baseline in the second quarter put LexCath up 30-19, and felt like something of a warning sign to the rest of the region.
“He’s so versatile,” said LexCath head coach Brandon Salsman. “He’s able to step out on the floor. He’s able to handle the ball. He’s able to shoot it really well. He’s a top-150 player in the country for a reason.”
LCA junior Tyler Hall scored the Eagles’ first seven points and finished with 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting. He gave LCA an early lead and the Eagles were able to keep the margin within two possessions most of the first period. After a shot by Hall brought LCA within 15-14 a minute into the second quarter, the Knights went on an 11-0 run that proved irreversible. LCA briefly pulled to within seven points, 57-50, with 2:19 to play but within a minute LexCath had the lead back out to 10.
The Knights will face Paul Laurence Dunbar, to whom they lost last season’s district title as the No. 1 seed, at 8 p.m. Friday. LexCath swept the regular-season series, 61-56 and 53-40, but it’s been a month since the two played.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to beat them twice,” Salsman said. “It’ll be another great game. Their kids are experienced in this and we’ll have to come ready.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 8:16 AM.
