With just over a week left in the regular season, the young Harlan County Lady Bears may have found the perfect time to put a full game together.
The Lady Bears were strong defensively and attacked the basket better than they have all season while placing four in double figures on the way to a 61-46 win Friday at Harlan, clinching the second seed in the upcoming 52nd District Tournament in the process.
“We were able to turn them over with our press. We didn’t settle for 3s. We got open 3s by getting paint touches. I’m happy with our performance,” Harlan County coach Gary Green said. “We put four quarters together. We played extremely hard and competed.”
Freshman guard Reagan Clem scored 15 points to lead the 12-11 Lady Bears. Jaylee Cochran added 11 points, while Jaycee Simpson and Taylynn Napier each chipped in with 10.
Sophomore guard Peyshaunce Wynn scored 19 points and senior forward Raegan Goodman added 13 for the 7-16 Lady Dragons, who finished fourth in the district standings and will play top-seeded Bell County in the first round of the district tournament.
Harlan County basically won the game in the first quarter, outscoring the Lady Dragons 17-4 while forcing nine turnovers. Harlan hit only one of 10 shots in the opening period and spent the rest of the night playing catch up. Napier, Clem and Kylee Runions had 3s for HCHS in the opening period.
“Scoring four points in the first quarter won’t allow you to win games,” Harlan coach Mackenzie Varner said. “We have to be able to learn to fight through the different defenses they give us and quit turning the ball over. We definitely learned something from it.”
The Lady Bears missed eight of 12 shots in the second quarter but extended their lead to 31-16 at halftime as freshman Raegan Landa came off the bench to score five points and pull down three rebounds. Clem added two baskets.
Harlan got as close as 12 in the third quarter on a 3 by Wynn and a basket by Goodman, but Napier came off the bench to score five straight as the lead grew to 19 on Simpson’s trey with 2:36 left in the period. Harlan cut the deficit back to 16 heading into the final period on two Wynn free throws.
Goodman and Wynn teamed on 13 rebounds and four baskets as the Lady Dragons outscored HC 17-16 in the fourth quarter despite missing 17 of 21 shots from the field. A Clem 3 and four free throws by Cochran gave the Lady Bears their biggest lead at 52-30 before a late Harlan run.
Both teams return to action Saturday in the Donnie Gray Classic at Clay County as Harlan County takes on 14th Region favorite Hazard at 1 with Harlan playing Pineville at 3.