CORBIN—If you wanted to know why North Laurel cruised to a 73-46 win Monday over Pineville in the first round of the 13th Region Tournament, you would have a lot of choices.

The tournament is being hosted by North Laurel, but played at The Arena in Corbin. Count Lady Jaguars coach Roy Bowling as a fan of the facility after one game.

“Love it,” Bowling said. “It’s really kind of a state tournament atmosphere.”

It’s more than just atmosphere Bowing liked. The games are played on a court 8-feet longer than a typical high school court. That could be one reason that the Pineville pressure hardly caused even a pause for North Laurel.

“I think it hurts teams that like to press. Whether we were helped that much or not, I don’t know,” Bowling said.

Pineville coach Russell Thompson thought the large area to cover may have hurt his team. In the season-opener at Pineville, North Laurel only won by nine points.

“Their guards handled any kind of press we threw at them. With the spacing on the floor being a little bit larger, it limited what we were able to do with our pressure,” Thompson said.

When North Laurel (20-8) did get the ball across half court, Pineville (12-17) had another problem: Cheyenne Madden. The only thing that kept Madden from being the Most Valuable Player of the 49th District Tournament was an overtime loss to Clay County. Madden picked up again in the 13th Region Tournament with 22 points, nine rebounds, and four assists.

“Cheyenne has been hurting a lot of people lately,” Bowling said.

Pineville really had no answer when the ball reached Madden inside. She was named Player of the Game, just as she had been the first two rounds of the district tournament.

“The Madden girl was an absolute domination on the glass and in the paint. We had no answer for her,” Thompson said.

It wasn’t a one-woman show inside. Ashley Woolum scored 12 points with eight rebounds and four assists. North Laurel attempted only two three-pointers and missed both. They didn’t need three-pointers this night.

“We were able to get the ball inside and were able to take advantage of their size on defense,” Bowling said. “Cheyenne or Ashley either one. They both did a good job.”

Pineville had one chance in this game. High-scoring junior guard Chelsey Smith had to have a big night. Smith did score 23 points, but made just 6-of-15 shots. Smith averages 30 points per game.

“You’re not going to keep an excellent shooter like her from scoring some points. We just wanted to contain her a little bit and not let her have on of those 50-point nights,” Bowling said.

The defense was planned around Smith. With four players in a zone, Rachel Seidel drew the opening assignment of shutting down Smith. Seidel stood toe-to-toe with Smith, denying her the ball. Smith must have felt she was looking in a mirror and seeing another face,

“They did an excellent job executing their game plan with a box-and-chaser on Chelsey and their length underneath really kept us from being able to get to the basket,” Thompson said.

With all of this to contend with, Pineville had one more issue. Prior to the game, several players began to have flu-like symptoms or a virus.

“I gave them the Michael Jordan speech that he played some of his best ball games with the flu,” Thompson said. “But you could see it in their faces coming out.”

Pineville never held a lead and the game’s only tie was at 2-2. North Laurel opened a 22-12 lead in the first quarter by dominating on the boards and smooth interior passing. The Lady Jaguars shared seven assists in the first quarter and finished the game with 17.

Pineville lost more ground in the second quarter. Madden scored nine points in the second quarter and Woolum scored five. Woolum also pulled five rebounds in the second quarter, the same amount Pineville had in the first half. North Laurel led 39-26 at half-time and by 20 points after three quarters.

“That’s not representative of how our team has played all year,” Thompson said. “I’m not making excuses. It might have been the environment or it might be something with this stomach virus that hit them all at one time.”

North Laurel shot 60 percent from the field. The final margin on the boards was in North Laurel’s favor, 33-16.

North Laurel advances to the tournament semifinals, where they will face Harlan County at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The Lady Jaguars have two wins over Harlan County this season. North Laurel edged Harlan County, 53-51, in Harlan, and then rolled to a 51-38 win at home.

Harlan County (16-8) won the 52nd District over Bell County, 40-31. The Lady Black Bears advanced in the 13th Region Tournament with a win 42-35 over Whitley County in the first round Monday. They bring an eight-game winning streak into the matchup with North Laurel.

Harlan County is led in scoring by Heather Maggard at 17.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. She is also the team’s top free throw shooter at 71 percent.

Mitch Howard can be reached at mhoward@sentinel-echo.com.



Girls’ 13th Region Tournament

at The Arena

North Laurel 73, Pineville 46

N. Laurel 22 17 16 18—73

Pineville 15 11 9 11—46

NORTH LAUREL (73)—Crawford 13, Smith 4, Seidel 6, Woolum 12, Madden 22, Cunnigan 2, Proffitt 4, Ellington 2, Prince 4, Hartney 2, Elkins 2.

PINEVILLE (46)—Smith 23, Knuckles 5, Brooks 3, Partin 1, Orr 3, Taylor 5, Brooks 3, Allen 3.