Aggressive plays in final moments seals Sweet 16 quarterfinals bid
Down a point with under a minute to go and without the ball, Anderson County, one of the best defensive teams in the state, proved why.
Anderson twice denied an in-bound play under their own basket. On the third attempt Rachel Satterly stepped in front of a desperate pass and strode through the lane for the go ahead score, 38-37, with 49 seconds left.
On Franklin County’s next possession, forward Jacie Chesser blocked Franklin County’s Leshauvion Kennedy’s putback and Anderson broke away for a 40-37 lead on what would be the clinching layup from Amiya Jenkins with 18 seconds left. Franklin County could not answer.
“We don’t want to sit back on our heels with our knees locked and let them run their offense, Anderson Coach Clay Birdwhistell said of the key sequence started by Chesser’s block. “It was obviously a big play, but the other part of that is we have three red jerseys flying down the floor ... . In that kind of moment, human nature is to sit on it, and for them to be aggressive (and score) was obviously a very smart basketball play.”
It also brought a large Anderson County crowd to a roar.
“That was one of the loudest moments since I’ve played basketball,” Chesser said.
Franklin County Coach Joey Thacker had a different view of the moment, but acknowledged it’s difficult to get a foul call in that situation. He also credited Anderson.
“They made us real uncomfortable offensively,” he said. “We played well enough defensively to win. We got killed there at the end — no call. And that happens in basketball. There’s not a lot of whistles blown on second chance points inside the last 30 seconds of the game at any level. Obviously, that was the case tonight.”
Bearcats pushed a 17-16 halftime advantage to eight early in the third quarter as sophomore guard Amiya Jenkins aggressively denied the ball to Franklin County playmaker Brooklynn Miles. Jenkins came up with five steals.
“I think Amiya’s one of the best on-ball defenders in the state of Kentucky,” Birdwhistell said. “There’s not a guard out there that I don’t feel comfortable with 20 (Jenkins) guarding.”
But Franklin County found a rhythm with its other players and clawed to the lead in the fourth. A steal by Patience Laster set up a go-ahead layup by Miles to make it 29-28 with 7:08 to play.
The teams traded the lead eight times in the final period and tied it twice.
“We didn’t have a real smooth year, but for the last month, we’ve kind of fallen back in love with how to play Franklin County basketball,” Thacker said. “Most of all I’m proud that we fought back tonight and took a lead after we were down five or six there in the third quarter when we could have folded tent.”
Miles led Franklin County with 15 points. Carter added 13. For Anderson County, Jenkins and Chesser scored 15 and 13 points, respectively.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 11:23 PM.
