‘She steps up when she needs to.’ Marshall senior takes over in final two minutes.
With her team down three and just over two minutes left in the game, Marshall County’s Cayson Conner took over.
The Miss Basketball nominee and 1st Region player of the year scored the Marshals’ next 10 points and came away with two steals in the final minute to help Marshall County knock off Bethlehem 58-51 in the quarterfinals of the Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 Friday in Rupp Arena.
“She steps up when she needs to,” Marshall County Coach Aaron Beth said. “Her biggest issue, and she’s going to hit me for saying this because she’s sitting right here, but it’s her confidence in herself. And I tell her every single day how good she is every single day. …
“The defensive effort with those two or three steals she made down the stretch were huge.”
With 11 ties and nine lead changes, Bethlehem and Marshall County staged the best, most competitive game yet in nearly two weeks’ of state basketball tournaments, boys or girls.
Conner and her teammates survived a bruising effort against Pikeville on Thursday, but proved ready for the challenge against Bethlehem, the No. 1 team in the tournament, according to Dave Cantrall’s ratings. They will now play their third game in three days with a chance for a fourth.
“A couple of us were sore, but adrenaline, you know, when you’re playing, you don’t think about that stuff,” Conner said. “I don’t think it played a factor today.”
After missing 14 free throws against Pikeville, Marshall made 18 of 22 against Bethlehem, including going 10-of-10 in the fourth quarter. Conner hit four of those. Halle Langhi, who missed five free throws on Thursday, hit six.
“(Langhi) is a great free throw shooter,” Beth asserted. “Yesterday was not normal.”
Langhi also picked a great spot to hit only her third three-pointer of the season, nailing one from the left wing to tie the score at 40 about three minutes into the fourth quarter and just moments after Bethlehem had pushed back in front.
“She promised me she would hit one or two in the regional tournament and didn’t,” Beth joked.
Marshall (24-2) had faced Bethlehem in its season opener, losing by seven, but scheduling the Banshees was part of Beth’s effort to go play tough competition to get his team ready for this opportunity, he said.
Marshall advances to its first state semifinals since 1989 when his father, Howard Beth, was in charge. The elder Beth led the Marshals to state titles in 1982 and 1984.
“If you play a tough schedule, it’s going to pay off,” Beth said. “I think this year, we’re a prime example.”
Bethlehem (26-5) extended its lead to 47-44 on a basket by its region player of the year, Ella Thompson. That set the stage for Conner’s run. Bethlehem’s chances to keep pace included a tying three-point attempt with 27 seconds left.
“Hats off to them,” Bethlehem Coach Jason Clark said. “They made free throws down the stretch and made some big shots. And we just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hoop sometimes.”
Clark saluted his team, especially Thompson and fellow senior Amelia Hodges, who led the Banshees to the Sweet 16 as sophomores, as well, and won back-to-back All “A” Classic small-school state championships.
“I’m really proud of what we accomplished,” Thompson said. “It’s definitely not the ending we wanted, but I think we left it all out there.”
