43rd District tournament: Dunbar boys, Lafayette girls win titles

Paul Laurence Dunbar entered the season with big expectations on the basketball court. It realized one of its goals with a 53-48 win over No. 18 Lafayette in the 43^rd District Tournament finals on Friday night.

The Bulldogs, ranked second in the state, used a 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter to come away with their first district title since 2013. It defeated No. 23 Lexington Christian to reach the finals; Lafayette had to overcome No. 13 Lexington Catholic to make the championship.

“It’s like winning a state championship, right there, to win this thing with all these ranked teams,” Dunbar Coach Scott Chalk said. “It’s tough, very tough.”

Dunbar went down 42-40 after Chris Warton converted on a drive for Lafayette with 4:26 to play. Darius Williams answered with a bucket a minute later before Taveion Hollingsworth put the Bulldogs up for good on a three-pointer with three minutes to go.

Williams struggled from the floor, going 4-for-13 overall, but he was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch to help seal the deal for Dunbar.

“I had to step up and make plays,” Williams said. “ … Coach Chalk says ‘Players make plays.’ So I had to do it.”

Hollingsworth was named tournament MVP after putting up 44 points, five assists, two blocks and two steals in two games. He had a game-high 20 on Friday night, and was thrilled to walk away a titlist after being knocked out in the semifinals each of the previous two seasons.

The job isn’t done, though. An 11^th Region title and a berth to the Sweet Sixteen is the next goal in Dunbar’s sights. Hollingsworth said after the Bulldogs dropped two straight to other Sweet Sixteen contenders — at Henry Clay and at Taylor County — to end the regular season, some outsiders questioned their ability to bring a title back to Man o’ War Boulevard.

“We feel like we need to go to practice, work hard, no goofing around,” Hollingsworth said. “We just need to come out and do what we need to do to win games.”

Lafayette Coach Mike Mendenhall said the score was right where the Generals wanted it down the stretch. They slowed the pace down considerably after winning a frenetic 22-17 first quarter.

“We don’t have the thoroughbreds to run with them,” Mendenhall said. “ ... Two minutes to go, we were right in the game. That’s all you can ask for. A couple shots here, a couple turnovers there. That’s part of it.”

The Generals went the entire second quarter without a field goal and scored just four points in the period, but were tied at the break.

“Tonight wasn’t our night but the good thing is we still get to go to a region draw tomorrow and still get to practice on Sunday,” Mendenhall said.

Lafayette girls earn fourth straight title

Winning the 43^rd District title has become old hat for the Lafayette girls’ basketball team. Doing it with its current core, however, wasn’t something it’d done until upending Paul Laurence Dunbar 61-45 at home on Friday night.

It was the Generals’ fourth straight district title, but the first in the streak without stars Dee Givens and Ashanti Thomas. Junior Kiara Pankins has filled the leadership void left by those graduations by setting an example on the court; she’s nearly averaging a double-double.

Pankins finished with one in the finals, pouring in 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, as the Generals improved their win streak against 43rd District competition to 29 games.

“We had our doubts about this team this year, (after) losing Dee and Ashanti,” Pankins said. “We’re young and we pulled through.”

Lafayette shared the ball well the whole night, finishing with 14 assists on 23 made baskets. Several of those came in transition as the Generals looked to push off Dunbar misses and hit open girls who slipped behind the defense, something Pankins said they hadn’t committed to as strongly in the regular season.

Their new eagerness to push the tempo was most evident after Dunbar cut Lafayette’s lead to 47-41 on an Autumn Herriford three-pointer with 4:25 to play in the quarter. Dunbar’s Mashayla Cecil, a sophomore, came up with a steal at midcourt, drove in for a layup but couldn’t convert. Pankins came away with the board, bolted up the court and earned an and-one attempt. She didn’t convert the free throw, but the momentum shifted quickly to Lafayette.

Dunbar put together one final run to get within six again with 2:44 to play, but Lafayette scored the game’s final 10 points to win going away.

Generals Coach Allison Denton didn’t expect her young Generals to improve as quickly as they did this year. After Pankins, their leading scorers are two sophomores (Terri Abram and Caroline Bennett), a freshman (Lindi DeBilzan) and an eighth-grader (Shelbi Wilson). Senior Aisha Conwell provided some steady guidance on the floor along with Pankins, but the rest had never played key minutes in the postseason before.

Abram, a transfer, finished with 12 points and a game-high seven assists.

“(She’d) never played in a district tournament and didn’t know what in the world was going on,” Denton said. “ … She stepped up tremendously as a point guard in our offense and run everything.”

Cecil led Dunbar with 22 points while Herriford, a junior, added 17 points and two blocks. Sophomore Anaiyah Cotton couldn’t find her way into the scoring column but finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 11:02 PM with the headline "43rd District tournament: Dunbar boys, Lafayette girls win titles."