‘My kids didn’t panic.’ Boyd County overcomes myriad troubles to knock off No. 1.
Despite having only played seven games in almost two months because of two COVID-19 shutdowns, Boyd County remained one of the highest-ranked girls’ basketball teams in the state by both the state’s media and the Herald-Leader’s Rating the State by Dave Cantrall.
Saturday night, the Lady Lions proved why.
Boyd County, now ranked 12th by Cantrall, overcame a 10-point, third-quarter deficit on the road to stun Anderson County with a 51-47 win over a team that has been ranked No. 1 almost since the season started. The loss marked Anderson’s (18-2) second loss of the week and of the season.
“I like my team,” Boyd County Coach Pete Fraley said. “The way they fought there at the end — they could have very easily folded up shop and went to the house. Anderson, there’s a reason they’re No. 1. They’re really good. And my kids didn’t panic.”
No, what they did was mount an 18-5 run over a span of about five minutes. Down 37-27 midway through the third quarter, a three-pointer from Audrey Biggs opened the run, a three-pointer from Hannah Roberts tied the game at 39-all to start the fourth quarter and then two huge three-pointers from Harley Paynter put the defending 8th Region champs on the ropes.
“Defense, that’s what we were focused on, and rebounding,” Paynter said of how her team fought back. “We know they’re really good, and we knew if we didn’t do it, we weren’t going to win.”
The momentum of the game had already shifted toward Boyd County by the time Paynter hit her first three of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 42, but considering where she shot it from, she might have broken the momentum lever.
“I guess I was feeling myself a little bit. I didn’t know where I was at,” said Paynter, who, for the record, let go of a 28-footer from just outside the center-court Bearcats logo with her team down three points at the time. “I just shot it. And I don’t second guess myself, because then you really won’t make it.”
It turned Boyd’s fiery rally into an inferno.
“When you hit shots like that and when you’ve been down by 10, that gets you going. That gets your bench going. It gets the crowd going. It’s fun,” she said.
On Boyd’s next possession, the Tennessee Tech commit hit a more conventional three from the right corner to give the Lions their first lead since the first half, 45-42. Boyd held onto the lead over the final four minutes to push its record to 9-1. Paynter finished with 16 points, Biggs had 11 and Roberts scored 10.
Anderson County Coach Clay Birdwhistell made no excuses, even though his team (now ranked fifth by Cantrall) had already played Central Hardin in Elizabethtown earlier in the day. Rachel Satterly led three players in double figures with 16 points.
“It had nothing to do with fatigue,” Birdwhistell said. “Give Boyd County a lot of credit, they came back swinging. They’re one of the highly regarded teams in the state of Kentucky for a reason.”
After a deflating loss to 16th Region-rival Russell on Thursday, Boyd’s win provided the Lions a much needed boost of confidence amid a season made difficult by issues beyond their control.
Derailed by COVID-19
From Jan. 30 until Monday, a span of 22 days, the Lady Lions hadn’t been able to step foot on a basketball court because of COVID-19 and the ice storm that hit much of the state.
Seven players and three coaches, including Fraley, have contracted the virus since the season began, resulting in two separate shutdowns of the program.
“It’s been tough on our community and our school. We were hit pretty hard there for a while,” Fraley said.
Then, when all had recovered, the ice storm hit and knocked out power to the school and many players’ homes for more than a week.
“It’s been a wild, wild year,” said Fraley, who lost power at his house for 10 days.
So, with three days of practice, Boyd took on probably their biggest region rival and lost 58-55 at Russell. They defeated Rose Hill Christian on Friday, held a practice at their school Saturday morning and got on a bus for a 144-mile trip to face No. 1 Anderson County on Saturday night.
“It’s not ideal, but at this point, we just want to play,” Fraley said. “At this point and time, if UConn called and wanted to play, we’d play them. We just want to be on the floor.”
Moving forward
Fraley feels this edition of the Lions is probably one of the better teams he has coached. Boyd has six seniors led by Paynter. Biggs, a freshman, averages double figures in scoring, as well. Seniors Roberts, Bailey Rucker and Isabella Caldwell each played key roles in Saturday’s rally.
“I think we can be pretty good. It’s just if we can get enough time under our belts to get consistent,” Fraley said. “We were playing really, really well right before we went down.”
The win over Anderson County shows Boyd remains a force to be reckoned with.
“It means a lot,” said Paynter, who uses social media to inspire her teammates and others with scripture and positive messages on a regular basis. “We said before the game — just keep our confidence, do our thing and we got it. I trust in my teammates. We believe in each other and our coaches.
“I mean, if we do our thing we know we can win, anytime.”
Highlights
This story was originally published February 28, 2021 at 5:42 PM.
