LEXINGTON – In their 24th trip in program history to the KHSAA Girls Sweet Sixteen Basketball Tournament, the Lady Marshals will move on to the quarterfinal round after a 56-52 win over Pikeville Thursday at UK’s Rupp Arena. They will play Bethlehem, a 70-65 winner over Bullitt East, on Friday at 5:00 (4:00 CST).
The Lady Marshals only loss in their first 19 games of the season came against Bethlehem (26-4) in the season opener, 67-60.
Pikeville, at 25-5, came into Thursday’s game after winning their third straight Region 15 title.
Layne Pea scored the first points for the Lady Marshals followed by two straight 3-pointers from Pikeville freshman Kristen Whited and senior Mackenzie Maynard. Pea followed with her own 3-pointer to cut the Lady Panthers lead to 6-5. Three ties and a couple of lead changes later, Cayson Conner scored – drawing the foul and converting the free throw to put the Lady Marshals up 15-12 – a lead they would hold the remainder of the game.
The first quarter ended on a SportsCenter Top 10 half court three by Jada Driver for an 18-12 Lady Marshals lead.
Driver opened the second quarter with her second of three 3-pointers in the game. Halle Langhi hit two at the line and followed it up with a field goal that gave them their largest lead of the game of 12 points at 27-15.
The 12 point lead was cut to four on an 8-0 run by Pikeville.
The Lady Marshals turned it around and out-scored Pikeville 6-1 – five of the six coming from Conner – for a 33-24 halftime lead. She led in the first half with 11 points.
Pikeville cut the lead back to five points at 35-30 in the third quarter. Sophie Galloway, Pea and Conner combined for the next five points to push the lead back to 10.
Up by seven going into the fourth, the combo of freshman Rylee Thiess and Trinity Rowe, cut the Lady Marshals lead down to four points at 44-40. A technical foul on Pikeville with 4:08 to go, sent Presley Jezik to the line where she converted the second of the free throws for a five point lead.
A timely 3-pointer by Driver stretched the lead out to eight and it was back to five on a three by Rowe with three minutes left on the clock. Despite an over three minute span without a field goal, the Lady Marshals hit their shots at the foul line to finish out the four-point win and move on to the Elite Eight.
The goal, according to Lady Marshals Head Coach Aaron Beth in post-game comments, “Play great defense and don’t give up too many points.”
Conner’s 22 points led the Lady Marshals. Rowe led Pikeville with 18 points.
Quarterfinal games on Friday (EST):
11:00 – Sacred Heart vs Bowling Green
2:00 – Franklin County vs Anderson County
5:00 – Marshall County vs Bethlehem
8:00 – Henderson County vs Russell
Pikeville 12 12 11 17 – 52
Marshall 18 15 9 14 – 56
Pikeville: Rowe 18, Maynard 12, Ratliff 8, Whited 6, Jackson 4, Theiss 4
Marshall: Conner 22, Driver 12, Pea 9, Langhi 8, Galloway 4, Jezik 1
Pikeville: FG 20/43, 3 Pt 7/13 (Rowe 3/4), FT 5/8 (Maynard 3/4), Reb 29 (Maynard 8), PF 23, TO 18
Marshall: FG 16/44, 3 Pt 4/12 (Driver 3/6, Pea 1/2), FT 20/33 (Conner 12/15), Reb 28 (Langhi 8, Galloway 8), PF 9, TO 11
