16th Region All 'A' Classic girls final: Entrance (Meni)fee: Wildcats win consecutive titles, move on to State

Jan. 12—SANDY HOOK — Menifee County wouldn't be denied Friday night as the Wildcats powered its way to the 16th Region All "A" Classic championship in a 60-49 win over Raceland.

"I'm super proud of these girls," Menifee County coach Drew Swartz said. "It's all on them. I didn't have to do much tonight."

Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net in the early part of the contest. The score was knotted at 2-2 through the first half of the opening frame.

"Menifee County is a really good team and they played really well," Raceland coach Marty Thomas said. "Kudos to them, and I really wish them well at State. We just couldn't get rebounds tonight. We'd hold them to a bad shot, but they'd get the second or third chance at it."

The latter half of the first quarter saw a bit more action, but the end result was just an 8-6 lead for the Wildcats heading into the second quarter.

The Rams were 0-9 from 3-point range in the opening quarter which contributed to plenty of empty possessions.

The offense picked up in the second quarter, especially for the Wildcats.

"That is a lot of growth for us," Swartz said of his team turning the dial up in the second quarter. "At the beginning of the season, we were lucky to put a whole quarter together. Then we were putting two quarters together. Then three. We've started putting full games together now. The resilience is huge."

Menifee County's Shayne Baker, who had just two points in the first quarter, put up 11 in the second to help lift her squad to a 25-19 halftime lead.

The Rams were kept afloat thanks to Nim Maynard, who made a trio of treys, the only made 3s in the first half for Raceland.

"She's just a special, talented player," Thomas said. "That young lady has 1,000 points as a freshman, and will probably become the leading scorer at this school. She's just a talented young lady all around."

Out of the break, Raceland looked to get back in the game, starting the third quarter with another Maynard 3-pointer.

The Rams pulled to within three at the 29-26 mark, but it didn't last long.

After several trips to the free-throw line, the Wildcats pushed the margin back out.

Menifee County ended the night going 17-27 from the charity stripe, while Raceland was 13-21.

A made 3 at the buzzer by Kaylee Hall put Menifee County up 43-32 at the end of the third quarter.

The deficit was too much to overcome for the Rams as the Wildcats sealed the win down the stretch.

Maynard led the night in scoring with 28.

Baker and Jaycee Gevedon led Menifee County with 19.

Raceland (7-8) will look to regroup at home on Tuesday against Greenup County. For Thomas, he wants to see continued improvement as the season progresses.

"We're averaging nine more points a game than we were last year," Thomas said. "And we're holding our opponents to five points fewer than last year. We've won as many games right now than all of last year. So, if you look at the incremental improvements that you're trying to make for the culture of your program, the needle is moving. It's the buy-in on games like tonight that hurts that we'll have to work through."

Menifee County plays Nicholas County in the opening round of the All "A" Classic state tournament at Corbin Arena on Jan. 24 at 1 p.m.

Swartz thinks his squad is close to being at the top of their game as the season pivots to the second half.

"I've already got my focus on Corbin," Swartz said with a laugh. "Maybe I shouldn't already be looking, but I am. We're rounding together pretty well. I wouldn't say we're peaking yet, but we're getting better at the right time. That's what I look for is improvement. You can't win every game, but as long as we're improving that's what counts. I'm excited about what we've got going on."

RACELAND FG FT REB TP

N. Maynard 7-15 9-10 7 28

Adkins 3-7 2-2 3 8

Taylor 3-8 2-4 7 8

Lacks 1-9 0-4 3 3

Boyd 1-10 0-0 5 2

Boggs 0-3 0-1 1 0

S. Maynard 0-1 0-0 0 0

Team 10

TOTAL 15-53 13-21 36 49

FG Pct.: 28.3. FT Pct.: 61.9. 3-pointers: 6-27 (N. Maynard 5-10, Lacks 1-7, Adkins 0-1, Boggs 0-1, Boyd 0-8). PF: 23. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 13.

MENIFEE CO. FG FT REB TP

Gevedon 4-11 11-13 7 19

Baker 6-15 5-9 3 19

Burgess 4-9 2-4 21 10

Blankenship 2-5 0-0 0 6

Hall 2-10 0-2 6 6

Golden 0-2 0-0 2 0

Team 5

TOTAL 18-52 18-27 44 60

FG Pct.: 34.6. FT Pct.: 66.6. 3-pointers: 4-18 (Blankenship 2-3, Hall 2-7, Burgess 0-1, Baker 0-3, Gevedon 0-3). PF: 14. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 13.

RACELAND 6 13 13 17 — 49

MENIFEE CO. 8 17 18 17 — 60

Officials: Paige Hurst, Gaylen Cisco, Mark Brown.

(606) 326-2658 — wadams@dailyindependent.com