After waiting her entire high school career for a district championship, Harlan senior forward Kylie Noe wasn’t letting anything get in her way Thursday as she played the final game of her career at the Wallace “Wah Was” Jones Gymnasium.
Noe, a powerful 5-foot-9 senior forward, muscled her way through the youthful Harlan County lineup time and time again as she hit 10 of 13 shots and scored 25 points to lead the Lady Dragons to a hard-fought 55-47 win in the 52nd District Tournament finals and earn tourney most valuable player honors in the process.
Noe, a powerful 5-foot-9 senior forward, muscled her way through the youthful Harlan County lineup time and time again as she hit 10 of 13 shots and scored 25 points to lead the Lady Dragons to a hard-fought 55-47 win in the 52nd District Tournament finals.
“We call her the Lebron James of mountain basketball sometimes. When she’s going downhill in this area, there’s nothing no one can do,” Harlan County coach Gary Greer said. “She’s so strong and agile. We had to give up some things to try to keep some other things from happening. We did an excellent job overall. We’ll get there.”
“She made shots when we needed them. We knew we could dominate in the paint,” Harlan coach Mackenzie Varner said.
It was the first district championship for Harlan since winning over the Lady Bears in the 2016 finals at Harlan County when Varner was a sophomore.
“I’m really proud of them,” Varner said. “This is really special, and they worked hard and earned it.”
Senior forward Aymanni Wynn, also playing her last home game with the Lady Dragons, added 13 points, including four of six at the free throw line in the final minute to help put the game out of reach.
The 9-22 Lady Bears were led by freshman guard Kylee Runions with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Eighth-grade guards Jaycee Simpson and Reagan Clem scored nine points each and junior forward Lacey Robinson added eight.
“I’m just so proud of these girls. We’ve come leaps and bounds from the start of the year to be in this position. Nobody thought we’d be here playing for a district title,” Greer said. “Yes, it hurts to lose, but this is a stepping stone for us. We’re going to the regional tournament next week, and we’ll do the same thing. We’ll compete and play hard. I look forward to taking a little time off after that and then getting back in the gym and go back to work.”
Harlan needed the big game from Noe with the Lady Dragons missing 14 of 16 from the 3-point line.
“We’re not used to missing that many 3s. We’re pretty consistent from the 3-point line,” Varner said. “I was proud of the intensity from both sides tonight.”
Noe had three early baskets as Harlan took an 8-4 lead. HC rallied with a Clem 3 and Simpson basket to go up by one before Noe beat the buzzer with a shot to put the Lady Dragons up 11-10 after one period.
Simpson’s trey put HCHS back on top before Noe reeled off six straight points and all 10 Harlan points in a 10-2 run as the Lady Dragons built a 23-18 lead by halftime.
Wynn and Noe stretched the Harlan advantage to nine early in the third quarter, but the Lady Bears showed a level of grit they lacked in the last meeting against Harlan and through much of the season. Clem, Simpson and Runions each hit 3s and Lacey Robinson scored twice inside in an 11-2 that tied the game at 31. Wynn answered with five straight points as Harlan took a 36-31 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Harlan lead stayed between two and four points for much of the final period before Noe scored four straight points to push the lead to 51-43 with 1:07 left. Wynn hit four of six free throws over the final 33.9 seconds to clinch the win.
Both teams advance to the 13th Region Tournament, opening Monday at The Corbin Arena.