A non-district encounter in the middle of the 1990 season, a matchup against visiting Red Bird didn’t seem like a special game for the Evarts Lady Cats.
It turned out to be an historic night.
Evarts led 41-23 at halftime, then exploded for 64 points in the second half to win 105-37. The 105-point effort appears to be a 13th Region and Harlan County record for points in one game. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association records for most points in a game start at 108, but no 13th Region team is listed, so Evarts has the record unless another 13th Region team scored 106 or 107 points in a game.
The 64 points in the second half is the 11th highest total for one half in KHSAA history and is also 13th Region and Harlan County records, at least as far as KHSAA records indicate.
All nine Lady Cats in uniform played extensively in the game and all nine scored.
Junior forward Kellie Wilson hit a free throw with 42 seconds left to give Evarts 100 points. Wilson, now a Harlan attorney, scored 25 points too lead the Lady Cats in the win.
“I remember when we made it to 88 or 89 with a few minutes left we were all thinking it could be possible to score 100, although I don’t think any of us really thought we would,” said Wilson. “Our coach kept changing out our lineup in an attempt to slow the scoring, but it was just a night when we were all hot. I think by the end coach (Kim) Kelley knew that reaching 100 could be possible and she didn’t stop us from trying. Even though we were excited to do it, I didn’t know until this week how rare it was for a girls team.”
“It was a remarkable game with a great group of players,” said Kelley, a former all-stater at Cawood who was in her first season as head coach of the Lady Cats. “Scoring 100 was not our goal and we substituted quite a bit, but the shots were falling and the girls got excited when we got close.”
Kim Huffaker added 23 points for Evarts. Kathy Vanover Minor, now the principal at Harlan County High School, contributed 22 points and remembers the excitement of the game building as the Lady Cats approached the century mark.
“That game was fun to be a part of,” she said. “Anyone who has been involved in a game where the two teams are just not evenly matched would describe it as boring and slow, but in that particular game when we realized it may be possible to break a 100; every point, every play, every move was celebrated. The battle was with the clock and everybody was the most valuable player. Those were good times and good memories.”
The Lady Cats finished 14-15 that season and advanced to the 13th Region Tournament for the third straight year after falling to Cumberland in the 52nd District Tournament finals.