LCA boys, girls advance to district basketball finals. Both still have big hills to climb
Everything came up Eagles on the penultimate day of the 43rd District basketball tournament.
LCA’s girls rallied to defeat Tates Creek 60-53 and the boys later held on against Lafayette 53-52 in the remaining semifinal games Wednesday night at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
Making the district finals is old hat for LCA’s boys: This win extended their streak to three straight appearances. They fell to Lexington Catholic each of the last two seasons and will have an opportunity to avenge those losses in Friday night’s finals; LexCath advanced on Tuesday.
The Knights won both regular-season meetings, 63-57 on Jan. 31 and 49-40 earlier this month. They’re 9-0 against district foes this season.
“We’re due,” said Saxton Howard, who finished with a game-high 24 points to pace the Eagles (15-16). “We feel like we’re the better team. They’ve got us the past couple times, but we’re gonna show them a little something they haven’t seen yet. I’m excited.”
Howard, who also had five assists, was tagged with his fourth foul with 7:07 to play. He sat for a couple minutes and LCA extended a one-point lead to 49-44 by the time he re-entered with 4:05 left in the fourth quarter.
Lafayette’s Ben Marsh stole a pass to give his team — trailing by a point — possession with under a minute to play. The Generals (12-17) nursed the clock before drawing up a play with 19 seconds to go, but the would-be game-winner by Ish Smith from the baseline fell short as time expired. Chase Bentley, an eighth-grader, appeared to block it.
Bentley chipped in five points, another block and a steal in 23 minutes off the bench.
“He comes to work every day,” Howard said. “Coach (Ted) Hall puts a lot on me to lead this team and I’ve just took Chase under my wing this year. He’s a great player, he’s got a great future.”
Chapel Brown and Piper Graham scored 17 each to lead LCA’s girls, who punched their ticket to the finals for the first time since 2010. The Eagles (25-6) trailed 42-36 with 5:30 remaining before a flurry of 3-pointers flipped the deficit in just two minutes.
Tates Creek halted a 15-3 run on a pair of free throws by Miracle Morbley with 3:13 to play, and pulled to within three with 40 seconds to go on a Mobley layup, but Creek (14-14) got no closer down the stretch. Morbley had a game-high 18 points, four steals and a block to lead the Commodores, who were kept from the finals for the first time since 2022.
Claire Roberts (13 points) made both of her 3-pointers during LCA’s game-changing run.
“It’s just a team effort,” Roberts said. “All of us rely on each other and we all do the best just to work together to have this outcome. It’s not one person more than the other.”
The girls’ foe — Lafayette — is 2-0 against the Eagles and 9-0 against all district competition this season. They fell to Lafayette twice in January, 67-43 and 51-45.
“We have a lot of respect for them,” LCA girls head coach Tim Bradshaw said. “They kind of are the standard in the district. … We did play them better the second time we played them, we took care of the basketball. They’re a really good team, it’s gonna take a great effort to get it done.”
For the girls, though, it also means a berth to the 11th Region Tournament for the first time in 15 years. Several players on their roster hadn’t been born the last time LCA’s girls made it.
“It hasn’t sunk in,” said Bradshaw, who in 2021 took over a program that hadn’t won a game against a district foe in two years. “I want to be as present as I can possibly be and be here, but it’s my first time.”
He continued with a laugh, “I hear there’s a meeting where they tell you who you’ll play. I don’t know how this thing works.”
Tuesday’s 43rd District semis
Boys: Lexington Catholic 61, Tates Creek 53 — The Knights led by 20 points midway through the third quarter but saw their lead dwindle to four by the end of the period. They staved off the Commodores to win their seventh straight game and 14th in their last 15.
Max Meagher finished with 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting to lead LexCath (21-9), which is seeking a fourth straight district championship. Stephen Franklin had 14 points, six assists and a steal for Tates Creek (13-16).
Girls: Lafayette 63, Paul Laurence Dunbar 33 — Anna Clay Denton (15 points, five assists, four steals), Isabelle Combs (14 points, six rebounds, five steals) and Addison Combs (12 points, four steals) all stuffed the box score in a runaway victory, Lafayette’s eighth straight. Layla Flynn scored a game-high 17 points and had three steals for the Bulldogs (14-17).
The Generals (24-4) are seeking their first district crown since 2022.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 12:48 AM.