Henry Clay, Lafayette routs set up crosstown rematch in 11th Region girls’ semifinals
Sometimes you can learn a lot from games teams have played against each other earlier in the season, and sometimes you can learn almost nothing.
That might be the case Thursday night when Lafayette faces Henry Clay for a third time, this one with their postseason basketball lives on the line in the girls’ 11th Region Tournament semifinals at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena in Richmond.
The two split a pair of double-digit win games in the regular season with the Generals topping Henry Clay 62-40 on Dec. 3 and the Blue Devils returning the favor with a 52-37 payback win at Lafayette on Jan. 10.
Each has a dominating all-region forward. Lafayette’s region player of the year and Miss Basketball candidate Anaya Brown averages 17.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Her Blue Devils counterpart, Kennedy Williams, goes for 16.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
And each has capable three-point shooters and lock-down defenses.
Henry Clay Coach Ashley Garrard expects round three to be a tough, physical game.
“You’ve got to bring all that you can,” Garrard said. “It’s win or go home.”
Henry Clay brought it Monday night in its quarterfinal matchup at home against Great Crossing, pulling away to a 53-36 victory.
Monday’s 11th Region Tournament quarterfinals were played at the homes of each district champion against teams that finished as district runners-up. They featured two more blowouts and a game that went down to the wire.
Lafayette dominated visiting Berea with a 46-26 win over the Pirates. The region favorite, Franklin County, topped visiting Bryan Station 68-36.
Meanwhile, down in Berea, Madison Southern got two free throws from Macie Danels to take a 39-38 lead with 11 seconds left against Lexington Catholic and held on as the Knights missed two attempts to win it with time running out.
Franklin County will face Madison Southern in the second game Thursday night at EKU.
Monday’s quarterfinals recaps
Henry Clay 53, Great Crossing 36: The Blue Devils (18-12) shook off a momentary lapse in the second quarter and refocused themselves at halftime to pull away for the win.
Great Crossing cut what was a double-digit lead to just four points at halftime, prompting a warning from Henry Clay’s Garrard to her players in the locker room.
“In the first half, we were getting confused on (defensive) switches and we stopped playing the way we’ve been playing,” Garrard said, also noting that the offensive plays she’d been calling were falling on deaf ears, too. “I told them, ‘Either you are going to do as I say, or you’ll be sitting. And if we take a loss, we take a loss. …
“‘We’re going to run our offense, and we’re going to sit down and play defense like we know how to.’ And that changed the game.”
The Blue Devils responded by outsourcing Great Crossing 14-3 in the third quarter, clamping down their defense, forcing turnovers and getting a pair of three-pointers from Lydia Van Metre and buckets inside again from forward Kennedy Williams.
“I just told them we needed to get up,” Williams said of her own comments to her teammates. “Push the ball, get up the court in transition. Then, we got it.”
Williams finished with a game-high 15 points and 11 rebounds. Allison Stone added 11 points and had six steals while Ariyanna Sutton and Van Metre each scored nine points for Henry Clay. Timothi Williams led Great Crossing (14-15) with 10 points.
Lafayette 46, Berea 26: The Generals (25-6) held Berea to just five first-half points on their way to a convincing victory over a Pirates team that had beaten them earlier this season.
Freshman Savannah Simpson led all scorers with 13 points, including three three-pointers. Anaya Brown contributed 11 points, six rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
Lafayette led 20-5 at halftime. The Pirates scored just one field goal on 16 shot attempts in the first half and finished the game making just 20 percent of their shots with 18 turnovers against the Lafayette defense.
Berea (24-8) lost leading scorer Madison Howell to a knee injury late this season and suffered its second straight postseason defeat after knocking Madison Central out of the district playoffs. Berea defeated Lafayette 48-34 on Dec. 7 with Howell scoring 15 in that game. Mati Stepp led the Pirates Monday with 10 points.
Madison Southern 39, Lexington Catholic 38: The Eagles (22-11) survived a game with 10 ties and 13 lead changes as Lexington Catholic’s Katherine Truitt could not get a game-ending tip-in to fall as the final horn sounded.
Lexington Catholic led for more than half the game, but couldn’t extend its lead to larger than four points against the 44th District champions.
The lead changed hands five times in the fourth quarter with Macie Daniels’ free throws giving Madison Southern the final lead with 11 seconds to go. LexCath’s Peyton Mayo had her drive to the right elbow cut off by the Eagles’ defense, forcing her to throw up a shot at the rim that Truitt caught out of the air and tried to steer home.
Daniels led Madison Southern with 11 points and seven rebounds. Morgan Flannery added nine points. Truitt led all scorers with 17 points for the Knights (12-16) with Lydia Kennedy chipping in 10.
Franklin County 68, Bryan Station 36: The two-time defending region champion Flyers (25-7) jumped to a 40-11 lead by halftime against the visiting Defenders with three players reaching double figures led by Jazmin Chambers’ 18 points.
Franklin County’s Rachel Shropshire made four of her six three-point attempts, including back-to-back long-range shots that put the mercy-rule running clock into effect against Bryan Station at 48-12 with 6:40 left in the third quarter.
Franklin County point guard Navaeh Carter notched 11 assists while forward Patience Laster added 11 points. Tania Woodall led Bryan Station (12-14) with 10 points.
Girls’ 11th Region Tournament
At Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena in Richmond
Thursday
6:15 p.m.: Henry Clay vs. Lafayette
8:15 p.m.: Madison Southern vs. Franklin County
Saturday
5 p.m.: Championship game
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 7:19 AM.
