Mercer County pays tribute to injured senior standout it’s learned to play without
Mercer County girls’ basketball Coach Hayley Spivey did not want Timberlynn Yeast to finish her high school career with 996 rebounds.
The four-year starter and leading scorer for the Titans in each of those years suffered a season-ending knee injury during the preseason. The surgery was successful, the rehab is ongoing, but the possibility of playing at all this year was out of the question.
“She probably handled it better than anybody,” Spivey said of Yeast’s injury. “I think the rest of us had a harder time with it than she has. She’s done a great job of leading our team in a different role.”
And thanks to the sportsmanship and respect shown by 12th Region rival Southwestern on Thursday night, Yeast completed her quest for 1,000 rebounds to go with her more than 2,000 career points on Mercer County’s Senior Night. Even in a program with two state championships and 2018 Miss Basketball Seygan Robbins, Mercer had not had a player reach both of those milestones.
Yeast got one last high school start as Mercer and Southwestern exchanged four consecutive uncontested buckets to begin the game. Yeast’s stat line: four points, four offensive rebounds and two field goals in six attempts. Mercer went on to win the game, 55-42.
“To be able to hit that 2,000 and 1,000 milestone is a big thing.” said Yeast, who noted she’s been picking up new insights on the bench she believes will help her when she returns to action in college. “To be able to get it tonight — shout out to Southwestern for letting me get it. It means a lot.”
Though it’s not the senior season she had planned, Yeast’s career achievements were enough for her to earn recognition as the 12th Region’s co-player of the year as determined by a survey of coaches and media by the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation in conjunction with the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches.
Yeast shared the honor with Southwestern’s Ayden Smiddy. That makes her Mercer’s first Miss Basketball nominee since Robbins. She’s signed to continue her playing career at Buffalo.
“We’re really proud of her. We just hate that she wasn’t able to accomplish some personal and team goals she had this year,” Spivey said. “But I know she’s got bigger and better things ahead of her.”
Titans adapt and learn how to win
It took some time for Mercer to adjust to Yeast’s absence. The season began with a four-game losing streak and didn’t get much better. Near the end of December the Titans were 4-10.
“I knew it would be a big adjustment,” Spivey said. “Everybody got shifted into different roles and had to produce things they didn’t normally have to produce. … And I probably made the hardest schedule I made in five years as a head coach, just based off the team that I thought I was going to have this year.”
Now, the Titans (16-13) are winners of 12 of their last 15, with the only losses coming to No. 7 George Rogers Clark, No. 11 Christian Academy-Louisville and No. 24 North Laurel. And they’ve beaten top region contenders Pulaski County, Rockcastle County and, now, Southwestern in the last week.
“I think we’ve overcome a lot of adversity this year and it’s paid off,” said junior Anna Drakeford, the team’s leading scorer who sat out last season with her own knee injury. “We’re really confident and I think we have a really good chance of winning (in the postseason).”
Drakeford scored 21 points in the win over Southwestern on Thursday. Timberlynn’s younger sister Teigh Yeast, a freshman, added 14 points. Five second-half three-pointers, two from junior Sara Dunn off the bench, helped Mercer take control of the game. Smiddy led an injury-depleted Southwestern roster with 19 points.
“I’m just really proud of everybody,” Spivey said. “They’ve kind of all stepped up and done what we needed them to do, especially the second half of the season. I feel really good about where we are.”
Southwestern injury woes
Southwestern Coach Junior Molden used the same formula this season as he did last: schedule tough early to be better prepared for the postseason. It worked in 2022 as the Warriors battled their way to a 12th Region championship and the Sweet 16 semifinals.
This season, however, Southwestern (17-12) has been beset with injuries, most notably to Molden’s daughter and the team’s leading scorer, Kinsley Molden, who suffered a torn ankle ligament and bone bruise against Bullitt East in the Louisville Invitational Tournament on Jan. 25.
Kinsley Molden returned to action Tuesday against North Laurel and scored 15 points, but Coach Molden held her and two other key contributors — Jessalyn Flynn and Jordyn McDonald — out of action against Mercer in hopes they will be better able to play in the district and regional tournaments over the next two weeks.
“I don’t even want to talk about that,” Molden said. “We’ve got kids that I’ve coached since middle school and I’ve taught them how to play basketball … I’ve got to have them more prepared. And I’ve got a little bit of time before district, a little bit of time before region, and I think we can put it together.”
Mercer and Southwestern have contested the last two 12th Region Tournament championships with the Warriors coming out on top each time. Neither of their roads back to the region finals will be easy, but both aim to be there.
“I know how everybody keeps counting us out every year, and I like how they do that. I’m OK with it,” Molden said. “I’ve got to do a better job of putting them in positions to succeed. And I think I can.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 9:41 AM.
