‘I’ve still got a message saved on my phone.’ Late teacher motivates state hopeful.
If there are televisions with internet access in heaven, you can bet Adam Hyatt will have his tuned to PrepSpin for the 11th Region girls’ basketball championship game on Friday night.
Hyatt, as devout a Christian as he was a supporter of Franklin County High School’s athletic programs, died in a car accident in July. He taught at the high school for more than a decade, and his classroom was across from that of Joey Thacker, the girls’ head basketball coach.
Adidas donated shirts for the girls’ basketball team to sell and help raise funds for scholarships to be awarded in his honor by the school later this year, Thacker said. Several Franklin County teams paid tribute or have planned tributes to Hyatt as part of their uniforms this season. The Flyers wear warm-ups that read “Team Hyatt” across the front and their jerseys have a patch with his initials — “AH” — stitched above their hearts.
Hyatt was a part-time public address announcer for the girls’ basketball team as well.
“I’ve still got a message saved on my phone from him about how excited he was watching us play last summer,” Thacker said.
Hyatt would have been elated by the Flyers’ 73-63 victory over Paul Laurence Dunbar in the semifinal round Wednesday at Eastern Kentucky University’s Alumni Coliseum. Brooklynn Miles, a junior whose college offers include Kentucky, Purdue and Cincinnati, led Franklin County in a wire-to-wire win: she finished with 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting, six assists and three steals in 31 minutes.
Dunbar — paced by junior Elise Ellison-Coons, who finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds and five assists — pulled to within six points early in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get closer. Sophomore Patience Laster scored 14 of her game-high 25 points for Franklin County in the second half.
Franklin County had a streak of four straight appearances in the title bout come to an end last season. Its latest trip is bittersweet, but can perhaps be uplifting.
“I’d really like to win one more for that family,” Thacker said.
BOX SCORE: Franklin County 73, Paul Laurence Dunbar 63
▪ James Hyatt, Adam’s 12-year-old son, is in the midst of a campaign to acquire likes on Instagram. Stadium Custom Kicks, which designs custom cleats, has agreed to create for James a pair of shoes to honor his late father if he can accrue 50,000 likes on an Instagram post by next Monday. The post as of Wednesday night had accrued more than 28,000 likes.
Scott County prevails
Two-time defending 11th Region champion Scott County — to whom Franklin County lost in last year’s semifinals and the 2018 championship game — fended off an upset bid from intracounty rival Great Crossing, 74-63, in the second semifinal to earn its third straight appearance in the finals.
Morgan DeFoor, who’s signed with Morehead State, finished with a game-high 34 points to help get the Cardinals past the first-year school. They withstood an outstanding all-around effort from a former teammate, Braylee McMath, lost to the new program: the 5-foot-1 guard had 31 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in the defeat.
Great Crossing led most of the first half before Scott County took a 34-33 edge into the locker room. That advantage swelled to 14 points with about four minutes to play before a final push by the Warhawks got them to within 63-59 with about a minute left. DeFoor was 11-for-11 at the free-throw line inside that minute to clinch the win.
“Morgan didn’t have the best first half I didn’t think but I tell ya what, I told her in there after the game, I’d go to battle with her any day,” Scott County head coach Scott Helton said of DeFoor. “We fuss, but families fuss, and I’ll stand by that as long as I live.”
Scott County from the floor shot 32.9 percent, still higher than the Warhawks’ 30.9-percent clip. The Cardinals came away with a massive advantage on the boards, 63-36, bolstered by big double-double efforts from Malea Williams (17 points, 20 rebounds) and Kenady Tompkins (15 points, 12 rebounds).
“We didn’t shoot the ball worth a nickel tonight,” Helton said. “ ... I don’t know if we’ve won a game shooting 30 percent this year, so let’s take that as a positive and get ready for Friday night.”
BOX SCORE: Scott County 74, Great Crossing 63
11th Region girls’ basketball tournament
Championship: Franklin County vs. Scott County
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: EKU’s Alumni Coliseum
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 12:34 AM.
