45th District Semifinals: Wilks gets 1,000th rebound in 80-48 win
Published 12:51 pm Thursday, February 21, 2019
Photo by Nancy Leedy LINCOLN COUNTY’S Kaitlynn Wilks grabbed her 1,000th career rebound Tuesday night at Garrard County in the Lady Patriots’ 80-48 win.
LANCASTER — The Lincoln County girls basketball team started out hot and never let up Tuesday in the 45th District Tournament semifinal round at Garrard County Middle School.
No. 13 Lincoln, the tourney’s top seed, exploded out to a 21-7 lead in the first quarter against host Garrard County and continued to add onto its lead throughout the game, reaching a 32-point advantage in the fourth quarter before notching an 80-48 victory over the Lady Lions.
“It’s the first game of district. I told the girls before the game, ‘It’s a new season. We’re 0-0. There’s teams that went home last night that didn’t plan on going home and you’ve got to come ready to play and just take care of business,’” Lincoln coach Cassandra McWhorter said. “And we did what we needed to do. It’s survive and advance. And now we get ready for a district championship Friday night.”
Lincoln improved to 22-6 with the win and earned a spot in Friday’s championship game with Danville, a 62-49 winner over Boyle County in Tuesday’s first game. The victory also earned the Lady Patriots an automatic berth in next week’s 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County.
Twelve of the 15 Lady Patriot players got into the scorebook in the win, led by senior guard Maddy Boyle, who had a game-high 19 points. Three finished in double figures with Kaitlynn Wilks tallying 15 points and Emma King finishing with 10 points.
It was a milestone night for Wilks as the senior center grabbed her 1,000th career rebound. She needed five boards going into the game and she surpassed the 1,000-rebound mark early in the second quarter.
Garrard, which scored a decisive 77-3 win over Kentucky School for the Deaf in Monday’s play-in game, never led in Tuesday’s semifinal matchup. Brittany Butner, who led the Lady Lions with 13 points, hit inside with 5:42 still to play in the first quarter to get her team within 4-2.
Lincoln took off from there.
Boyle, who had scored Lincoln’s first two field goals to put the Lady Pats in front for good, answered Butner’s bucket with a 3-pointer to ignite a 17-5 scoring run over the remainder of the first to blow the game open. Boyle would have nine points in the run, including a jumper with 21.7 seconds on the clock for Lincoln’s biggest lead of the first, 21-4. Zaria Napier, who finished with eight points, added four points in the run, Wilks scored in the paint and Anna Lane sank two free throws.
Jayden Naylor, who came off the bench to score 12 points for Garrard, drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 21-7.
Butner hit a 3-pointer to start the second quarter to make it 21-10, but that was as close as Garrard would get the rest of the way. Wilks scored off a Boyle assist to kickstart a 16-3 Lincoln run less than a minute into the period. She also added a 3-pointer and a field goal. Napier and King each scored two buckets and Savannah Robbins scored off a Haleigh Releford assist for Lincoln’s biggest lead of the first half, 38-13.
The Lady Patriots led 40-21 at the half and led by at least 20 points the rest of the way. Lincoln took a 64-37 lead into the fourth quarter and led by as many as 32 points before the final horn sounded.
Lincoln’s starters got plenty of time to watch the game from the sidelines Tuesday, with McWhorter going to her bench freely throughout the game often sending five reserves in at a time. The bench scored 22 points.
“It’s always nice when you get to play everybody and get those younger ones some game experience and some time under their belt,” McWhorter said. “You’ve got Trin (Shearer) coming back as a senior point guard and Lydia (Rice) will be a senior next year. Just time with them on the floor with some of your younger ones gives you a look at what the future holds.”
“It’s a good night all around when everybody gets to play. It was a good team win.”
Lincoln shot 58 percent from the field, going 38-for-66 overall, while holding Garrard to 24 percent shooting, 13-for-55 overall. The Lady Patriots were just 2-for-2 at the foul line. The Lady Lions were 15-for-23.
Lincoln will play Danville at 6 p.m. Friday in the championship game at Garrard County Middle School.
*****
At Garrard Co.
Lincoln 21 19 24 16 – 80
Garrard 7 14 16 11 – 48
LINCOLN (22-6) – Emma King 10, Kaitlynn Wilks 15, Maddy Boyle 19, Trinity Shearer 6, Zaria Naper 8, Anna Lane 4, Lydia Rice 2, Ally Lynn 2, Haleigh Releford 2, Savannah Robbins 4, Abby Lane 4, Talynne Shearer 4.
GARRARD (6-26) – Brittany Butner 13, Madyson Neeley 10, Hallie Martin 4, Jade Pevley 9, Jayden Naylor 12.
