Several of the current Middlesboro Lady Jackets weren’t born the last time that Middlesboro won a game in the 52nd District Tournament. Those who were were around were too young to remember when Middlesboro knocked off Harlan County in 2011 to earn a trip to the 13th Region Tournament.
The Lady Jackets haven’t been back to regional competition since — a string of 14 straight first-round losses. That streak ended Monday as Middlesboro held Harlan County to 20 percent (11 of 56) shooting on the way to a 45-31 victory at Bell County.
“We’ve had highs and lows, but this has been our main goal all year,” said an emotional Middlesboro coach Sally Adams seconds after the game. “It’s been 15 years since we’ve been in the region. Obviously, we want to compete with Bell. They have a great team, and I respect coach Teague a lot. We’re excited about that game, but we’re also excited about going to the region.”
Sophomore guard Emily Lambert scored 16 points and junior guard Millie Roberts added 15 as Middlesboro took control in the second half to improve to 14-11 on the season. Harlan County hit only three of 31 shots in the second half as Middlesboro slowly pulled away after leading by only one midway through the third quarter.
“We played that zone, which is dangerous against 3-point shooters, but I told them they were all good shooters. We closed out hard and had help in the paint when we drove,” Adams said.
The Lady Bears ended the season at 13-14, an improvement over last year’s 9-25 mark, but struggled to score at times, especially in losing two of three against Middlesboro. The Lady Bears were also limited to 31 points in a 31-point loss to Middlesboro on Jan. 23.
“You can’t beat anyone scoring 31 points. We did a poor job of doing the things we worked on in practice this week,” Harlan County coach Gary Greer said. “We shot the ball poorly and stood around offensively. It was one of those nights where everything went wrong. We missed some shots we normally make, and you could see it in their faces that they were discouraged. If you want to be a good player and compete for a district and regional title you have to move on to the next play, Hats off to Middlesboro because they have a good team and did what they are supposed to do.”
Jaylee Cochran scored nine points and Reagan Clem added seven to lead the 13-14 Lady Bears.
Harlan County took an early 11-5 lead on a 3 by Cochran and basket by Taylynn Napier, but Middlesboro closed with a 7-0 run capped by a 3 from Roberts to go ahead 12-11.
Lambert hit a pair of 3s in the second quarter as the Lady Jackets took a five-point lead. A basket by Raegan Landa and two baskets by Clem gave HC its last lead at 22-21 before three straight points by Lambert put Middlesboro up 24-22 at the break,.
Clem’s 3 with 7:18 left in the third quarter cut the deficit to one. Neither team scored over the next three minutes, but Harlan County point guard Jaycee Simpson picked up her fourth foul during that stretch and went to the bench for the rest of the period. Harlan County missed 13 of 15 shots in the quarter but stayed within four, at 32-28 going into the fourth quarter.
Harlan County’s cold shooting continued into the fourth quarter as the Lady Bears missed their first 12 shots from the field. When Kylee Runions finally ended the drought with a three-point play at the 1:58 mark of the quarter, the Lady Bears found themselves down 42-31. HC missed 15 of 16 shots in the period and 28 of 31 in the half.
Harlan County has one of the region’s youngest teams this season and will bring back its top six scorers next year.
“These kids will have to realize you can’t pick a ball up in August. You have to work some on your own,” Greer said. “I was fortunate enough to coach two outstanding young men (Trent Noah and Maddox Huff) who spent hours and hours in the gym, They don’t have to do that, but you do have to spend time on your own working on your game. If you compete against someone who is just as talented as you but works harder then you are in trouble. I’m disappointed in the loss but proud of the improvement. We made some strides and this should motivate these kids to get back in the gym and work hard.”
Middlesboro (14-11) will play Bell County on Thursday at 7 in the 52nd District Tournament championship game. It will be only the second meeting between the two teams in the 52nd District Tournament finals and the first since 2006, which was the first year that the two schools moved from the 51st District to the 52nd District during the last statewide realignment.