Local musician Jim Duff has the blues

Comment by drzrocks: Wednesday, July 14

I never heard anything impressive on his site at all....read more...

Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

Comment by Truthseekerme: Thursday, July 8

Patti Strand, of the National Animal Interest Alliance, author of "The Hijacking of the Humane Movem...read more...

Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

Comment by HillaryatHSUS: Wednesday, July 7

I work at the HSUS, and I’ve also worked at several animal shelters. Shelters do great work – ad...read more...

» Read more recent story comments
» Register for your account

Lincoln County moves one step closer to regional title.

The No. 4 Lady Patriots withstood a strong challenge from Southwestern before doling out a 63-49 defeat to the Lady Warriors in the 12th Region Tournament semifinals at LCHS.

Upset-minded Southwestern jumped out to a seven-point lead in the first quarter, but Lincoln answered with an 18-2 run that helped send the Lady Patriots to the regional championship game for the second straight year.

“Coach (Don) Story warned us in the locker room that they (Warriors) traditionally come out hot so we all just realized we had to lock it down on defense,” said Lincoln center Kendra Brown. “We knew if we kept pushing the ball and doing our thing on offense and kept doing our best on defense, that we couldn’t be defeated.”

Brown was one of four Lady Patriots reaching double figures in the win. The 6-3 center had 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds, Emily Fox and Nikki Bustle both chipped in for 14 points and Jessica Upchurch had 12 points and grabbed eight boards to lead Lincoln to its 19th straight win and into the region finals.

“This is what we’ve dreamed of ever since fourth grade,” Brown said. “Every single year we’ve talked about being in this position right now. Hopefully, tomorrow, we can go out and capitalize.”

A barrage of 3-pointers buoyed Southwestern to the early lead, with Adison Corder going long range twice and Danay Fothergill and Emily Walker bombing in one trey each as the Lady Warriors posted a 19-12 lead late in the first.

“They were hot,” said Lincoln coach Don Story. “The first time we played them they were hot, scoring 15 points, and tonight they were even hotter.”

However, Lincoln (24-4) answered with its own 3-point blitz as the Lady Patriots hit the comeback trail with their 18-2 surge. Fox, a freshman guard, knocked down three triples in the run and Bustle bombed in the first of her four treys for the game. Bustle added a bucket in the paint during the run, Alissa Patterson drove off a Fox assist for two and Fox capped off the run with a layup to give Lincoln a 30-21 lead with 3:40 left in the first half.

“Emily stepped up and made some big shots for us tonight,” said Story. “She’s a freshman but she gets out there and plays just like a senior. She’s a tough basketball player and she was on fire the first half.”

“And Nikki. Nikki’s not afraid of taking big shots and she took some big shots for us today just to kind of keep us with them early in the game,” he added.

Southwestern (20-10) may have put up 19 points on Lincoln in the first quarter, but the Lady Warrior offense was sputtering in the second. After going 6-for-12 in the opening frame, Southwestern got only two shots to fall in the second. Overall, the Lady Warriors were held to 38 percent shooting, going 9-for-25 over the last three quarters.

“Our defense has stepped up all year, especially since Christmas,” said Story. “They’ve scored the most of anybody we’ve played in our winning streak. They got 44 the first time we played them, which was number one. They topped that tonight with 49. They average 65-70 points a game so for us to hold them to 49 in the semifinal in the region ... I’m pretty proud of the defense.”

Holding Southwestern’s leading scorer, Fothergill, to just two points in the second quarter, gave Story even more reason to boast.

“Nikki has had to take on a lot of roles for us this year, including playing defense on the other team’s best player,” said Story. “I felt like she wore her (Fothergill) down a little bit by the end of the first half. Her shot didn’t look like normal for Danay, and that can be attributed to Nikki. In the second half, she stepped up and made some shots, but she had to work for everything.”

Fothergill, a junior guard, led all scorers with 28 points, including 12 from 3-point range.

A 10-2 run late in the third quarter boosted Lincoln to its biggest lead of the game, 17 points. Upchurch and Brown both had four points in the run and Fox capped it off with a layup off a Bustle steal to make it 49-32 with 2:17 to go in the third.

Southwestern wasn’t ready to give up. Fothergill sank two free throws to end the third then she and Walker both drained two 3-pointers to trim the Lady Pat lead to 57-47 with 3:04 remaining.

But the Lady Warriors got no closer the rest of the way as Lincoln moved on for the win.

Lincoln shot 47 percent from the field, going 25-for-53. The Lady Pats were 7-for-17 from 3 while Southwestern was 9-for-24.

At the foul line, Lincoln was 6-for-8 and Southwestern was 10-for-11.

Lincoln outrebounded Southwestern 29-25.

Story comments

No comments on this article yet.

Posting comments on this web site requires free registration.

• Create your account
• Log in to your account