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DANVILLE – Defending champion Lincoln County made it three straight titles with a 46-30 win over Garrard County in the 45th District Tournament final at Danville High School.

But don’t be deceived by the final score.

Unlike the romps Lincoln laid on Garrard in the regular season – 79-41 and 60-32 – the Lady Patriots did not enjoy the comforts of an early blowout in Friday’s finals, with the Lady Golden Lions controlling the tempo of the game in the first half and trading baskets with Lincoln in the third quarter before the Lady Patriots were finally able to pull away.

“They’ve got a lot of fight. I’ve seen them play a lot and I kept telling everybody this is a pretty good team,” said Lincoln coach Don Story of Garrard. “By us beating them pretty easy the first two times, people might not have believed me. But Scott (Bolin-Garrard coach) does a good job. He’s going to have his kids ready to play, and to play hard. It was a tough battle, but we played better the second half and got the win.”

The No. 4 Lady Patriots (22-4) earned the double-digit victory thanks to a 17-3 shooting advantage over the final minutes of the game.

Lincoln, which was 18-for-39 from the field overall for 46 percent, went 7-for-10 over the final 10:06 to put Garrard away. During those final minutes, the Lady Golden Lions, who went 11-for-41 overall for 27 percent, were held to 1-for-11 shooting.

“Offensively, we tried to establish better shot selection the second half,” said Story. “We told them (at half) to be a little bit more patient on offense, and look to the inside a little bit more. If it’s not there and you didn’t have a good feel for it, kick it out and re-establish yourself.”

Story wasn’t looking for a change on the defensive side.

“I felt like our defense, although we didn’t do a good job of keeping them out of the paint and they drove pretty good against us, we just gave up 21 points,” said Story. “That’s not terrible, but I’m really proud of our second-half defensive effort where we just gave up nine”

Garrard (19-6) held the first lead of the game, with Leslie Newsome sinking two foul shots. However, Lincoln’s Jessica Upchurch and Shelby Smith answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to put Lincoln on top 6-2.

The Lady Patriots maintained their lead until the closing seconds of the first when Haley Meadows, who led all scorers with 15 points, hit from outside to give the edge to Garrard, 13-12.

Garrard’s lead was shortlived, with Lincoln center Kendra Brown sinking two fouls shots to open the second quarter. Brown would lead Lincoln in the win with 12 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

The Lady Patriots built a 19-15 lead midway of the second off a Brown basket and a Korey Coleman layup and free throw before Garrard responded with its own scoring run to go back on top. Newsome stepped to the line for two foul shots and Meadows and Devin Conley each tallied a bucket for a 21-19 Lady Lion lead with 1:12 showing.

It appeared that Garrard would hold to the lead at the break, with Lincoln turning the ball over on an errant pass, but the Lady Patriots got the ball back on a walking call and Nikki Bustle launched a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put Lincoln up 22-21.

“That 3 she hit just before the half was huge,” said Story. “It kind of changed the momentum for us.”

Garrard wasn’t going away yet.

The Lady Lions continued to play ball with the Lady Patriots in the second half, retaking a 25-24 lead off a Conley bucket midway of the third and holding within 29-27 with 2:58 left in the period.

But then Garrard’s upset bid stalled.

It was all Lincoln over the remainder of the third, with Brown hitting from the paint, Alissa Patterson driving past the Garrard defense for two and Coleman stepping behind the arc for a 3-pointer to give Lincoln a 36-27 lead going into the fourth.

The Lincoln scoring surge continued into the fourth quarter as the Lady Patriots outscored Garrard 10-3 to claim the win.

“Sometimes it’s hard to convince the kids that it’s going to be a tough battle,” said Story. “When you have won twice during the season, it kind of goes through their mind that maybe it’s not going to be as hard as it becomes. But they’re (Garrard) wanting a district championship, too. They’re working hard and are going to bring it. And they did.”

Upchurch and Bustle both reached double figures in the title tilt with 10 points each.

Lincoln outrebounded Garrard 29-17. Newsome led the Lady Lions with five boards.

From the foul line, Lincoln was 4-for-7 while Garrard was 8-for-10.

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