King becomes Lady Pats’ all-time leading scorer; gets 32 in win at So. Laurel

Published 1:11 pm Thursday, December 13, 2018

LONDON — The Lincoln County Lady Patriots racked up their third straight win on the road Monday night, topping host South Laurel 94-81.

Senior guard Emma King poured in a game-high 32 points to lead Lincoln, breaking the Lady Patriots’ all-time scoring record in the process. The new record high is 2,035 points.

King needed 20 points going into the game to top Emily Fox’s record of 2,022. That record fell on two King free throws with 2:28 to play in the first half.

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“It’s a huge accomplishment to become that all-time female leading scorer now,” Lincoln coach Cassandra McWhorter said. “And she now has the opportunity to become the all-time leader boy or girl.”

“It’s a big moment for her, but it’s also a big win for us on the road.”

That “big” win produced some “big” points as a team and individually. The Lady Patriots topped their previous high-point effort by 26 points Monday with four players putting up “big” double-digit efforts to hit 94 points. Senior center Kaitlynn Wilks pounded in 23 points inside, senior guard Maddy Boyle whipped the nets for 18 points and junior guard Trinity Shearer pushed in 16 points.

“I’ve said since last year, that if we could have four players in double figures every night – I’d take five – but three to four players in double figures, and big double figures, we’ll put the points up like we did tonight and everyone has the opportunity to score,” said McWhorter. “Great team win.”

“I’m very pleased with my team tonight and the girls and how mentally prepared they were. They came ready to play as a team.”

Six turnovers early in the game slowed Lincoln’s offense and allowed South Laurel (3-2) to take an early lead. After a game-opening bucket by King, the Lady Cardinals sank three of four free throws to edge ahead 3-2.

That would be South’s only lead.

Lincoln, which shot 54 percent from the field overall (37-for-69), was at 100 percent on its next six shots to break on a 14-7 run and go on top to stay, 16-10. Wilks opened the run with a field goal and added another late in the run, Boyle drove inside for a basket and King drained two 3-pointers and a bucket.

Lincoln led by as many as eight points at the end of the first but Mariah Anders went inside for her only bucket of the game just before the buzzer to make it 25-19.

The first quarter-ending score was the margin for the second period, with Lincoln extending its lead to 50-38 at the half.

The Lady Patriots’ largest lead of the first half, 44-29, came at the 2:28 mark of the second when King sank her record-setting free throws.

Lincoln took a 70-55 lead into the fourth quarter.

Shearer nailed a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter for Lincoln’s largest lead of the night, 81-63, but the Lady Patriots would have to fend off a rally effort by the Lady Cardinals.

South, which was at 38 percent from the field (28-for-74, with 11 3-pointers), bombed in four 3’s over a two-minute stretch in the fourth to whittle the 81-63 Lincoln lead down to single digits, 83-76. Ally Collett, who led South with 28 points, and Bree Howard both nailed 3’s and Amerah Steele, who finished with 22 points, drained two treys to make it a seven-point game.

“I knew they could get hot at any moment,” said McWhorter. “Unfortunately, Ally was beating us getting to the rim and we was helping a little bit more and that allowed that outside shot to be available a couple times, and they got a couple to go down and got hot. I was proud of us keeping our composure and coming down and still scoring on the offensive end.”

Lincoln would stop the bleeding by answering with a 7-0 stint at the foul line to put the game away. King sank six free throws and Zaria Napier had one to push the lead back to 90-76.

“It was good to see us keep our cool when they came back and I thought, across the board, we did a good job of just moving the ball and just playing team basketball and just doing what we needed to do to get the ‘W,’” McWhorter said. “I knew coming in tonight this would not be as easy a win as when we saw them last year. A game last year where we just were really clicking and a rolling. This was early in the year and I really knew it was going to be a good early battle for us.”

At South Laurel

Lincoln 25 25 20 24 – 94
So. Laurel 19 19 19 24 – 81

LINCOLN (3-0) – Emma King 32, Kaitlynn Wilks 23, Maddy Boyle 18, Trinity Shearer 16, Zaria Napier 1, Anna Lane 2, Lydia Rice 2.

SOUTH LAUREL (3-2) – Ally Collett 28, Amerah Steele 22, Sydnie Hall 10, Mariah Anders 2, Dianna Morgan 12, Bree Howard 7.