LOG MOUNTAIN — With a five-game winning streak during the holidays, the youthful Harlan County Lady Bears looked like they had turned the corner after last year’s rebuilding season.
The Lady Bears took a step back Thursday in the consolation game of the 2A Section 7 Tournament at Bell County as they fell 59-47 to Whitley County. Harlan County featured a deadly combination of poor shooting, bad defense and non-existent rebounding through much of the game.
“We didn’t do too much right this game. We physically got beat up,” Harlan County coach Gary Greer said. “When we’re not making shots we have to win the turnover battle and we have to win the rebounding battle.
Forward Madisyn Hopkins, a 6-foot junior, proved to be a matchup nightmare for the Lady Bears as she poured in 28 points by continually catching the ball in the middle of the HC defense for open shots.
“We did a poor job all night of guarding the post and doing what we went over,” Greer said. “Hopkins is the best player on their team and we talked about locating her. We did a terrible job of locating her in the high post.”
Jonna Rice, also a junior forward, added 13 and nine rebounds for the 6-7 Lady Colonels.
Eighth grade guard Taylynn Napier carried the HCHS offense in the first half and finished with a team-high 17 points. Freshman guard Jaycee Simpson added nine points for the 6-7 Lady Bears.
Rice and Hopkins combined for all six Whitley baskets in the first quarter as the Lady Colonels took a 15-11 lead. Napier and Simpson had two baskets each for Harlan County.
Napier hit three of three shots in the second quarter to keep the Lady Bears in the game, but they could not overcome a 6-0 deficit in the boards in the period as Whitley extended its advantage to 28-23 by halftime. Hopkins had three baskets in the period as she worked inside against the smaller Lady Bears.
Harlan County got as close as three late in the third period as Whitney Noe and Jaylee Cochran each hit 3s, but two free throws from Hopkins and a basket from Lydia Hale stretched the lead to 39-32.
The Lady Bears cut the deficit to four on two free throws by Kylee Runions but HC couldn’t get stops or hit shots to get closer. Whitley drove through the HC press several times for layups to put the game away.
“We were forced to go man to try to speed them up, but our press just didn’t work today,” Greer said. “We’re not doing some things we normally do on our press. We didn’t turn them over much. We have to back and try to figure some things out.
Harlan County returns to action Thursday with a trip to Belfry.