MIDDLESBORO — As an eighth grader, Harlan County’s Taylynn Napier still has some room to grow when it comes to consistency.
But when she’s good, she can already take over a game, as she proved Friday when the Lady Bears avenged a 31-point loss to Middlesboro two weeks ago with a 40-32 victory. Napier hit four 3-pointers in the second half as HC built an 11-point lead.
When Middlesboro turned that deficit into a 32-all tie, Napier didn’t hesitate with what turned out to be the game-winning 3 from the corner with 50 seconds left. Jaylee Cochran put the game away by hitting five of six free throws in the closing seconds. Napier scored 16 points and Cochran added 11 as the Lady Bears evened their record at 10-10 and district mark at 2-2,
“She’s a gamer. I’m hard on Tay, but she can take it. She works extremely hard on her game outside of practice,” Harlan County coach Gary Greer said. “She had a shaky first half, but we all did. She puts the work in and you can take a bad half because she puts the work in. You know it will eventually go in. She hit a bunch of big shots to get us on the run.”
“We know they have several good shooters, and we struggled offensively. It was just the opposite of the earlier game, which is ironic since it’s our home gym,” Middlesboro coach Sally Adams said. “I told them to keep their heads up because I feel our district is all over the place. I appreciated our effort at the end even though some of the decisions we made could have been better.”
The Lady Bears missed all 11 of their shots from the field in the first quarter as Middlsboro struggled to a 5-2 lead on baskets by Morgan Martin and Addison Lucas.
Jaycee Simpson broke the drought for Harlan County in the opening minute of the second period. A basket by Whitney Noe and 3 from Simpson gave the Lady Bears their first lead at 9-8. Kylee Runions hit two of three from the line with 2:36 left in the half for a 12-10 lead that stood until the break,
“We got our hands on so many balls the first half that we didn’t come up with. We also didn’t attack the gaps like we worked on,” Greer said. “We didn’t get the ball to the high post or short corner. We finally got going when Tay hit those shots. We have to do a better job of closing out. I know people thought we were holding the ball, but we weren’t, We’re still young and took some bad shots, but I was proud of the way they responded. Last year we probably would have rolled over. We were able to make plays when we had to make them. Getting a district win on the road is always good, and we won our 10th game after nine last year. But we’re not satisfied. They are working hard and doing everything they can to get to where we want to go.”
Napier owned the third quarter with three 3-pointers as Harlan County built a six-point lead. Cochran also added a 3 as the Lady Bears led 24-18 heading into the final period.
A Napier 3 and jumper by Raegan Landa gave Harlan County its biggest lead at 29-18. The Lady Bars were up 31-21 with six minutes left another Landa basket but could manage only one free throw by Napier over the next five minutes.
Middlesboro star Emily Lambert, who missed the Lady Jackets’ game Tuesday at Harlan due to ankle injury, brought her team back by hitting four straight shots in an 11-1 run that tied the game. Lambert and Lucas each scored 11 to lead Middlesboro.
“She is still recovering from an ankle injury, and I wasn’t sure if I would play her,” Adams said. “She said she was fine, so I threw her out there. She had a big game against them the last time and played well when we came back tonight.”
Harlan County returns to action Saturday at Henry Clay in a 6:30 p.m. game. The 11-7 Lady Jackets travel to Barbourville on Tuesday.