PINEVILLE — A Thursday afternoon game against an out-of-state opponent during the Christmas break isn’t usually something for the basketball history books.
Harlan County’s 62-45 win over Providence Academy (Tenn.) at the Chain Rock Classic will be remembered, however, because it was the day that Anthony Nolan recorded his 400th win as a coach in Harlan County. Nolan became the third coach to reach the mark with Harlan County teams, following John Bond (497-262) and Mike Jones (457-169). Nolan coached the Cawood boys the last 12 years of the school’s existence and posted a 210-132 mark. He’s in his 10th season as coach of the Lady Bears and has a 190-89 record.
“I’m proud of it, especially that it all came in Harlan County,” Nolan said. “I’ve never had any desire to go anywhere else to coach but my hometown. I made a lot of special memories with my players and coaches through the years. I still see a lot of them in the community. It’s never been a goal, but I am proud that they all came at Harlan County schools. I never had any desire to go anywhere else. I started there and I’ll retire there.”
Senior guard Ella Karst scored 28 points to lead the Lady Bears against Providence Academy. Faith Hoskins added nine points, while Paige Phillips and Reagan Clem each scored seven.
Junior guard Kinley Painter scored 22 points and sophomore forward Myla Johnson added 18 for the 9-7 Lady Knights.
Providence Academy missed its first seven shots from the field while Whitley Teague and Karst hit shots to put HCHS ahead early. Karst had five baskets and five rebounds in the opening quarter as the Lady Bears built a 15-7 lead.
Hoskins gave the Lady Bears a lift in the second quarter with a 3-pointer, a jumper and two free throws as HC outscored the Lady Knights 16-11 to push the lead to 31-18 at halftime.
HCHS blew the game open in the third quarter as Clem hit a 3 followed by seven straight points from Karst for a 51-24 lead before a pair of treys by Painter cut the deficit to 21 by the end of the period.
“I think we had holiday heavy feet to start. We missed some shots and it was a little more of a grind than it should have been. We were in a pretty good rhythm last week, but we had three days off. I think we’ll have them back by Friday,” Nolan said. “Our shots didn’t go down, but we’re still getting a lot of people a lot of minutes, and I think that will pay dividends down the road. I can see gradual growth in some of our other girls. We were one shot away by three of them to having four in double figures. I think we’re getting there, and we have some big district games in January that are vital.”
Harlan County will return to tournament action Friday with a 4:15 p.m. game against the host Lady Lions.