Stanton, Ky – February 26, 2024 – Deron Mays
The girls district tournament action for postseason 2023/2024 began at Powell County Monday with two games. Owsley County has won the last four district titles and have their eyes set on a fifth consecutive championship. They enter the tournament with a 21-9 record, their fourth straight 20+ win season. So the target is clearly on the Lady Owls in the tournament.
The first game was between Owsley County and Lee County. The Lady Owls are the top seeded team in the district tournament by virtue of their 6-0 district record and Stanton businessman Darrell Billings presented the team and coaches with an award, that he sponsors, before the first game started. After pictures and applause it was game time.
Lee County has shown great improvements since the first two games of the season with Owsley County where they lost lopsided contest. The addition of 6’ center Preslee Cundiff in January was a big boost to the team.
Owsley won the first quarter 16-9, which included a pair of 3’s by Carly Smith and another by Addie Terry, but the Lady Kats were already showing they were better now than earlier in the season and had plenty of fight in them. Cayden Fox and Hannah Bowling both connected on treys to give the Lady Kats some spark.
Owsley slowly increased their lead in the second quarter behind four 3-pointers, two by Addie Terry and two by Laya Lynch. They took the second period by a score of 24-12 and led at the half 40-21. Terry closed out the half with a 28 foot basket at the horn. Cayden Fox made a pair of 3’s for Lee during the period.
Owsley won the third quarter 19-13 and the last quarter 22-11. Final score was Lady Owls 81 Lady Kats 45.
Carly Smith led Owsley with 20 points. Addie Terry had 19 points, Macie Brown 12, Laya Lynch 12, Kamilla Marcum 6, Kenzie Grubb 5, Harley Dooley 5, and Shelby Murray 2.
Smith, Brown, and Terry all had double-double stats. Smith had 11 assists, Brown 13 rebounds and Terry 11 rebounds. In addition, Carly scored the 2,500th points of her career in this game. Congratulations to her on a huge accomplishment!
Preslee Cundiff led Lee with 18 points, Cayden Fox had 11, Natalie Reed had 10 (and around 15 rebounds for a double-double), Hannah Bowling 3, and Miranda Wyrick had 3.
The second game of the evening was between big rivals Estill County and Powell County, and as with Owsley-Lee also border neighbors. The game was close through the first period and Powell held a 12-11 lead as the quarter ended. Estill caught fire in the second quarter and regained the lead behind some great post moves and shots by forward Haley Angel. She had 12 points in the half to lead her team to a 27-21 halftime lead.
Both teams found difficulty scoring in the third quarter. The defense stiffened and intensity increased. Estill won the quarter 4-2. Estill’s scoring woes improved in the last quarter but Powell’s didn’t. The Lady Pirates scored only 5 points in the fourth quarter, and 7 for the entire second half. The Lady Engineers won the quarter by 6 points and went on to claim a spot in Wednesday’s championship game with a 42-28 victory.
Haley Angel led Estill with 16 points. Ava Hale had 7 points, Callie Snowden 6, Kadara Skinner 6, Sarah Baker 3, Katlyn Worley 3, and Brooklyn Ferrell 1.
Powell was led in scoring by Mykira Caudill with 13 points. All her points but one came in the first half where she had success driving to the basket and scoring on some acrobatic shots. But in the second half Estill defended the All Regional player much better. Others scoring for Powell were Jessleigh Centers with 7, Trinity Romans 5 and Zaley Strange had 3.
The championship game will be Wednesday at 7:00 PM.