Seven out of the last eight years, Marshall County and Murray High girls have met in the 4th District Tournament championship. The Lady Marshals last win over Murray came in the district championship game on March 10, 2014. Since then, the Lady Tigers have won 14 straight games over the Lady Marshals including three district championships and a regional championship. Thursday in the 4th District title game, the Lady Tigers won their 15th straight over the Lady Marshals, getting the win at the buzzer on a 3-pointer by Elizabeth Curtis for the 43-41 win.
“We spotted them some points in the beginning and had some defensive situations we went over but we just didn’t guard them the way we practiced”, Head Coach Dan Langhi said. “I’m proud of the girls. I don’t know if I’ve ever been that happy after a loss because I thought that fourth quarter, we finally stepped up and grew up.”
Mackenzie Turley and Halle Langhi opened the scoring for each team with threes. Tied again at 7-7, Murray finished the first quarter on a 6-0 run to lead 13-7. Cayson Conner scored the first four points of the second quarter for the Lady Marshals and following a 3-pointer by Tera Colson, the Lady Marshals were within one at 15-14. Trailing 17-16, Colson tied the game up with a free throw but the Lady Tigers took a two-point led into the locker room at halftime on a final first half basket by Parker Greer.
Murray out-scored the Lady Marshals 12-5 in the third quarter to lead 31-22 and opened the fourth quarter on a basket by Greer to lead by 11. A three by Presley Jezik and basket from Langhi cut Murray’s lead to 37-31 with 4:35 left in the game and with just over two minutes to go, Conner scored to cut it to three points.
A basket by Langhi with 57.4 second remaining cut Murray’s lead to 38-37. A free throw from Turley gave the Lady Tigers a two point lead with 40 seconds to go, tied by Conner with 25 seconds left on the clock. A foul on Conner sent Angela Gierhart to the line, hitting her second to put the Lady Tigers back up by one. Conner scored with eight seconds to go to give the Lady Marshals a 41-40 lead before the buzzer-beater three by Curtis for the Murray win.
Coach Langhi said in post-game comments, he was attempting to call a time out with seven seconds on the clock to set up a final defensive play, but he was really proud of the girl’s effort and happy to be headed to the regional tournament next week.
Conner led the Lady Marshals with 16 points and 13 points came from Langhi. Murray was led by Greer with 14 points. Both teams will await Saturday’s Region 1 Tournament draw to see who they will meet on either Feb. 27 or Feb. 28.
In other Region 1 action, Graves County defeated Mayfield 53-31 in the 3rd District Championship. McCracken County will play Paducah Tilghman on Friday in the 2nd District Championship and Carlisle County and Hickman County will meet Friday in the 1st District Championship.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Marshall | 7 | 17 | 22 | 43 |
| Murray | 13 | 19 | 31 | 41 |
Marshall: Conner 16, Langhi 13, Colson 7, Jezik 3, Powell 2
Murray: Greer 14, Curtis 11, Carver 10, Turley 4, Gierhart 4
Marshall: TFG 16/42, 3PT 4/11, FT 5/11, REB 20
Murray: TFG 15/35, 3PT 4/16, FT 9/16, REB 25
