LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — BARBOURVILLE—After two tough road losses at Breathitt and Wayne County, the South Laurel Lady Cardinals came out with a vengeance Saturday, rolling to a 61-46 win over Barbourville, thus avenging an earlier 58-54 loss to the Lady Tigers.

“We played a lot better,” South Laurel coach Konnie Snyder said. “Not only the starters, but also those coming off the bench. Preslie (Baker), Brittany (Vandeventer) and Bailey (Miller) all played well. And Morgan Madden gave us some good minutes when Taylor (Arthur) got into foul trouble.”

One key in this win was the perimeter play of the Lady Cardinals (12-12), something that pleased Snyder

“I thought our perimeter play was a whole lot better,” Snyder said. “We’ve played a lot of teams that shoot from the perimeter and hopefully we have learned from those situations.” South held Barbourville (17-10) to just 28 percent from the field and 0-of-8 from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Lady Cards shot 45 percent.

Balanced scoring was also a key, as eight different Lady Cards scored, led by Taylor Arthur’s 17 and C.J. Johnson’s 15. Arthur also pulled down nine rebounds and blocked three shots. The Lady Cards outrebounded Barbourville, 35-26.

South Laurel would trail just one time in the game, 2-0, when Kelsey Erslan opened the game with a basket. There would be only one tie, at 10-10, late in the first quarter.

Arthur came out strong, scoring South’s first five points. After two Emily Clonce baskets, it was Johnson’s turn as she scored four points as South led at the end of one, 15-10.

A 10-0 run in the second quarter pushed the lead to 25-12. Baker scored three of her points during that run, while Miller drained a three. Vandeventer would score four points in the quarter to help South to a 33-21 halftime lead.

South continued to build on its lead throughout the first half of the third quarter, and when Katie Reynolds scored with 3:59 left, the lead had ballooned to 20, 45-25.

Now it was Barbourville’s turn to make a run. A basket by Amber Mills with 3:34 left sparked a 10-0 run to cut the lead in half, 45-35, with 1:23 left. Vandeventer and Johnson scored back-to-back baskets to give South a 49-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Tigers would then go ice cold from the field, hitting only 1-of-15 shots with their lone basket coming with 49.9 left on an Erslan lay-up. The rest of their points came from the free throw line. Meanwhile, South was spreading the scoring around, as Arthur, Baker, Clonce and Johnson all scored in the quarter to seal South’s 61-46 victory.

“We’ve played some good teams and I hope that sharpens some things a little bit and allow us to handle some different situation, Snyder said.”

 South Laurel 61, Barbourville 46

South Laurel   15  18  16  12—61

Barbourville    10  11  14  11—46

SOUTH LAUREL (61)—Arthur 17, Clonce 6, Johnson 15, Baker 8, Miller 3, Vandeventer 6, Parker 4, Reynolds 2.

BARBOURVILLE (46)—Ke. Erslan 12, Bunch 6, Ka. Erslan 11, Liford 4, Mills 11, Hicks 2.





sports@sentinel-echo.com