Clutch play helps Scott County escape in 11th Region semis to face Henry Clay
Tied at 45-45 with 1.1 seconds to go, Scott County senior Juliette Smith calmly knocked down a free throw that helped the No. 2 team in the state survive No. 16 Franklin County’s upset attempt in the 11th Region semifinals at Eastern Kentucky’s McBrayer Arena on Sunday evening.
There’s no one Cardinals Coach Steve Helton would have wanted there more.
“Juliette’s been there,” Helton said. “She was there last year when we played Ryle at home with less than 1.1 on the clock (and won 70-69).”
Smith intentionally missed the second attempt and the clock expired before Franklin County’s Brooklyn Miles could get off her desperation three-quarters court heave. Final: Scott County 46, Franklin County 45.
Scott County entered the game with one of the state’s most potent offenses (82.1 points per game) and only one loss on it’s résumé.
But defense saved its season. Two huge blocks, the first from Kenady Tompkins with the game tied 45-all with 1:29 left, and then Malea Williams with the play that set up Smith’s game-winner.
“We told them if we got a stop right there at the end, we’re not calling timeout,” Helton said. “We want to go against an unset defense and we got down the court.”
Williams denied the driving attempt by Franklin County’s Miles with 11 seconds left and started the break the other way. It was Williams’ sixth block of the game. Smith got the ball on the left wing and looked to take it right to the elbow for a contested jumper and drew the foul.
Helton knows he doesn’t have a team of lock-down defenders, but “when you’ve got 6-3 (Williams) and 6-foot (Tompkins) in the paint, they can kind of clean up some of the things going on on the perimeter … .”
“Could we have played better?” Helton asked rhetorically. “Yeah. But our kids battled to the last 1.1 seconds right there.”
It didn’t look like anything would go right for the Cardinals early after a 1-for-14 effort from the three-point line in the first half, a recipe for disaster against a team like Franklin County. In the first half’s final four minutes, Scott County missed six three-pointers as Franklin County built a 25-19 halftime lead.
Miles, the Lady Flyers’ leading scorer, ran wild for 11 of her 17 points in that time. Cardinals leading-scorer Maaliya Owens was 0-for-9 in the first half, with her only two points coming at the free-throw line.
The halftime talk “was mainly about us playing the way we know how to play. We knew that. (Coach Helton) knew that. We had to calm down,” said Owens, who finished the game with 14 points. Williams led the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Now, the Cardinals get Henry Clay for the fourth time this season. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they haven’t come close to competing with Scott County, suffering blowout losses of 31, 34 and 43 points in their previous meetings.
Henry Clay 49, Woodford County 37
Henry Clay jumped on Woodford County early in Sunday’s opening game and, despite a slight lapse in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils hung on to advance to their first 11th Region finals since 2015.
“I wasn’t ready to go home,” said senior Kiya Thompson, who led the Blue Devils with 20 points. “It wasn’t one of my best games, but I had to keep pushing, keep encouraging my teammates.”
Henry Clay used its press to force 27 Woodford County turnovers, led by Amiya Jenkins’ nine steals, to establish the game would be played at Henry Clay’s tempo.
The Blue Devils led 20-11 at the half as the Yellow Jackets struggled to find leading-scorer Delaney Enlow in the post, keeping her to only four points at the break. She averages more than 17 per game.
In the second half, it was more of the same until Henry Clay Coach Eric Sanford maybe got ahead of himself by trying to run out clock too soon.
Woodford County responded by cutting what was a 16-point Blue Devils lead to 31-25 on an Enlow putback and foul with more than five minutes to go.
“We were trying to steal some minutes and rest our starters …, but turned it over, gave up an and-one, so we had to put them back out there and finish the game,” Sanford said. “I think they did a good job.”
Next game
11th Region finals
Scott County vs. Henry Clay, 8 p.m. Tuesday at EKU
This story was originally published March 3, 2019 at 9:05 PM.
