The girl’s 4th District Championship game Wednesday at Marshall County High School’s Reed Conder Gymnasium was between two schools less than half a mile from each other. One going for their 32nd 4th District title and one playing in the school’s first-ever championship game.
Marshall County and Christian Fellowship played four hard-fought quarters and at the final buzzer, the Lady Marshals won 66-51 and raised the 4th District trophy for the fourth straight year.
“I’m proud of their fight and resilience to stay the course game in and game out”, Lady Marshals Head Coach Jimmie Holder said. “They took their lumps here and there, lost some tight games. All of that stuff I knew would just make us better because every tournament game is tight.”
Tuesday’s 66-60 win over Calloway County was the Lady Eagles first-ever district tournament win making the championship game another first for the CFS basketball program.
“I’ve cried more in the last two days…but they’re tears of joy”, Head Coach Trevor Jackson said of the Lady Eagles first-ever district championship appearance. “I’m a sucker when it comes to these girls. I know my daughter’s there but we’ve been with them since they were sixth graders. They’ve been playing varsity since they were seventh graders with this senior group.”
A basket from Lillian Burnett, 3-pointer by Jayden Jackson and basket from Alyssa Warren and CFS was off to a hot start with an early 7-0 lead. The Lady Marshals cut the lead down to three points late in the quarter on a basket by Georgia Hall but Gracie Howard scored to end the quarter on a 13-8 CFS lead.
Mia Teague hit her first of eight 3-pointers in the game to cut the Lady Eagles lead to 15-13. Teague’s second three cut it to one point and a basket by Laken Schroader gave the Lady Marshals their first lead of the game at 18-17. The lead changed five times from there with the final two baskets scored by CFS to take a 28-25 lead at halftime.
With defensive adjustments made at halftime, the Lady Marshals also picked it up offensively in the third quarter. Two threes from Teague tied the game up twice, first at 28 to start the quarter and again at 32. A 3-pointer by Howard put CFS up 37-32 but the Lady Marshals put together a 10-2 run to close out the quarter on a 42-37 lead.
A timely 3-pointer by Alyssa Warren for CFS cut the Marshall County lead down to two points and Howard tied it up with free throws. CFS held a one point lead at 46-45, then fell victim to an 21-5 run by the Lady Marshals fueled by Teague’s sixth, seventh and eighth 3-pointers to close out game.
“We knew it was a tough district from the gate”, Holder said. “They had to reinvent themselves, not only because they were brand new to this kind of stage all year long, straight from the start, but then you lose Skylar and you start the year off with only 12 points returning. So everybody has to find their way and they stuck with it.”
Teague had a huge night for the Lady Marshals with 29 points and the eight 3-pointers. Gracie Howard scored 26 for the Lady Eagles.
“To see where they’re at…it’s hard right now losing the district championship game”, Jackson said. “That’s one thing we’ll talk about at our banquet and for years to come. They’ll look back and think wow, we did that. The first ever to do that, boys or girls, at CFS. The first team to ever win 20 games girls or boys in basketball.”
Both teams will advance to the CFSB First Region Tournament next week at Murray State.
“We’re going to rest a little bit”, Jackson said. “We ran out of gas in the second half. I don’t have a ton of kids in the varsity rotation. We’ll sit back and wait for the draw and see what happens. It’s anybody’s ball game in post season play for sure.”
Georgia Hall, Chevelle Henson, Laken Schroader and Mia Teague were selected to the All-Tournament team from Marshall County and from Christian Fellowship, Jayden Jackson, Gracie Howard and Lillian Burnett.
Marshall County 8 17 17 24 – 66
Christian Fellowship 13 15 9 14 – 51
Marshall County (17-14): Mia Teague 29, Laken Schroader 16, Georgia Hall 12, Chevelle Henson 4, Madyson Morton 3, Peyton Weitlauf 2
Christian Fellowship (22-10): Gracie Howard 26, Jayden Jackson 9, Lillian Burnett 8, Alyssa Warren 5, Renee Shields 3
