Elizabethtown, KY – The Lady Dragons of South Oldham continue to have trouble dealing with the Lady Panthers of Elizabethtown. Since 1998, when the two teams met in the second round of the Sweet 16 – a game won by E-Town en route to a state championship – the Lady Panthers have maintained the upper hand against South.

Until last night, most of the games had been close.

The youthful Dragons came into the game riding the confidence of a three-game winning streak. Since opening the season 1-7, the Lady Dragons had gained poise along with experience, and they were playing much better team defense. In addition, they were finally putting up some points, have scored 70 points or more in each of their past two games. Furthermore, having faced #2 Sacred Heart and Top Ten Shelby County, along with #12 Oldham County, the Lady Dragons weren’t likely to be awed by anything the senior-dominated Lady Panthers did.

Unfortunately, the lesson learned this evening would be how quickly a winning streak of three can become a losing streak of one.

The Lady Panthers jumped on South Oldham from the opening tip, racing out to a 6-0 lead to open the contest, and a 10-5 advantage midway through the first period. Actually, South was fortunate that, with 4:11 left in the first, it was only 10-5. After stealing the ball 20 times against Taylor County in their previous game, E-Town was making South their next victim, forcing an amazing 12 Lady Dragon turnovers in the first eight minutes. As a result, the Dragons had taken only two shots in the first four minutes of the game!

But if the Lady Panthers had the advantage in the first four minutes, it was nothing compared to the second half of the first period. Brandi Newton’s bucket to make it 10-5 was only the tip of the iceburg; it keyed a 12-0 E-Town run to end the period, leaving South staring at a 20-5 deficit at the end of the first quarter. It was the 23^rd time this season E-Town had held an opponent to fewer than ten points in a period.

Back to back baskets by Emily Cobb pulled South to within 11 to start the second period, but the Lady Panthers answered with a basket by Adrienne Masters and a bucket and a free throw from Jessica Lucas to stretch the lead to 16. The two teams then basically swapped scores for the next four or five minutes, with South slowly cutting into the lead until, with 1:50 to go in the half, Megan Lee hit a free throw to trim the deficit to ten at 29-19.

Instead of a strong finish, however, to the half, South had to watch while E-Town scored the next seven points of the half. After a Stephanie Vaughn jumper, Pam Walters scored for E-Town at the buzzer to make it a 17 point bulge at the break. All South’s hard work in the second period went for nothing.

Amazingly, South had hit 57.1% of their shots in the first half, including 100% (1 of 1) of their three-pointers. They had also hit 80% (4 of 5) of their free throws. Unfortunately, they had only attempted 14 first-half shots and had committed 17 turnovers compared to only four for E-Town.

Elizabethtown had done a strong job defending the talented South Oldham interior players, shutting out Ashley Staude in the first half, and limiting Melissa Hayes (who averages 11 ppg and 11 rebounds) to just two first-half points. Staude would ultimately go scoreless, while Hayes took just three shots and finished with almost as many fouls (4) as points (5).

The home team blitzed the visitors from Crestwood to start the third, scoring the first seven points of the period to seize a huge lead at 45-21. The Lady Dragons responded with a 7-0 run of their own to pull within 17 at 45-28, but the experienced seniors of E-Town regrouped, outscoring South Oldham, 13-4, to end the period up by 26 at 58-32. Pre-season all-Fifth Region selection Brandi Newton led the surge with six points.

South Oldham pulled out all the stops in the fourth and final period, with a furious press and a desperate attack. After attempting only 23 shots in the first three periods due to the 24 turnovers forced by E-Town, South launched 21 fourth-quarter shots. Their defense also forced seven Lady Panther turnovers, after turning E-Town over just 9 times in the first three quarters. All of this came against the regulars and top subs for E-Town, but it was too little, too late.

Midway through the final period, E-Town pushed out to their biggest lead of the night at 64-36 on two free throws by backup center Kim Haire. South then dominated the remainder of the game, outscoring E-Town, 19-9. Included in the run were three threes, two by Stephanie Vaughn and one by Lindsey Dearmond. Vaughn – who hit back to back threes between the one and two minute marks – trimmed the lead to the final margin of 18 with her second three.

South falls to 6-13 on the season; Elizabethtown improves to 12-6.

In Junior-Varsity action: South rallied from a nine-point deficit with about three minutes left to get back into contention. Leading by one, E-Town went to the line, but missed two shots. Crystal Bray rebounded and was fouled with about 9 seconds left. When Bray also missed both shots, a battle for the loose ball ensued, with South getting the ball on the alternating possession rule. They passed the ball into Ashley Staude, who scored with just three seconds left to lift the South Oldham JV’s to a 45-44 victory.

UNOFFICIAL SCORING:

South Oldham – Cobb 12, Trosper 10, Vaughn 10, Fleming 7, Hayes 5, Lee 4, Dearmond 3, Kennedy 2, Shipley 2
 

Elizabethtown – Masters 14, Newton 13, Pam Walters 11, Lucas 8, Valentine 8, Yates 7, Haire 6, Nikki Walters 4, Nall 2
 

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