On a night when they did almost everything wrong offensively, the Harlan County Lady Bears still found a way to win.
Visiting Middlesboro scored the first 13 points of the second half to turn a seven-point deficit into a six-point lead as HCHS missed its first eight shots from the field after missing 13 straight 3-point attempts in the first half.
With Jaylee Cochran, Reagan Clem and Kylie Runions scoring on consecutive trips in the fourth quarter as part of a 7-0 run, the Lady Bears fought back to take the lead and held on for a 51-45 victory.
Both teams had bad nights offensively as HCHS shot 34 percent (15 of 44) from the field and 17 percent (four of 24) from the 3-point line, while Middlesboro shot 31 percent (15 of 49) from the field and 15 percent (three of 20) from the 3-point line.
“We know we didn’t shoot well, but we were pretty good defensively,” Harlan County coach Gary Greer said. “They have a good team and a shoot it well. Earlier in the season we would have lost a game like this where we blew the lead like that and got behind. We’re learning how to play and how to win. We grinded it out and hit our free throws down the stretch.”
Clem scored 14 points and Runions added 13 to lead the 7-16 Lady Bears.
Middlesboro (11-10) lost for the fifth time in seven games since upsetting Harlan last month to capture the 13th Region All “A” Classic championship.
“It’s on me. I have to be harder on the girls,” Middlesboro coach Sally Adams said. “We are still, technically, a young team, but that’s not an excuse anymore. It’s on me. We went back to our old ways (in the fourth quarter) with unforced turnovers. But it’s on me.”
Senior guard Keevi Betts scored 24 of the Lady Jackets’ 45 points and sparked the Lady Jackets’ third quarter run by hitting four of four shots.
“Betts is one of the top players in the region. She got going in the second half when they made their run, but I thought we did an excellent job on their other kids,” Greer said.
Middlesboro missed 10 of 11 shots in the opening quarter as Harlan County built a 15-6 lead. The Lady Jackets cut the deficit to two with a 9-0 run before a basket by Reagan Landa broke the HC drought. Clem closed the half with a 3, the first of the night by the Lady Bears after 11 misses, to go up 24-17 at the break.
Betts brought the Lady Jackets back in the third quarter as they went up by six before a 3 from Clem helped cut the deficit to 32-30 going into the final period. The lead changed hands several times in the fourth quarter before the 7-0 run put HCHS ahead to stay.
Harlan County travels to Clay County on Saturday to face the Lady Tigers in the Donnie Gray Shootout. Middlesboro will play host to Jenkins on Monday.