Lady Lyons claim victory in the 2010 District final

Lyon County’s Lady Lyons will graduate five seniors and all of their memories and experiences come May. Few memories will be fresher or sweeter for Lady Lyon Rachel Rhodes as when she sank the game winning shot to lead her team to a triumphant upset victory over the favored Crittenden County Lady Rockets at Crittenden Friday night. Taking a lob pass from fellow senior forward Brittany Doom, Rhodes shot faked the Crittenden defender, shot, and after a few dramatic seconds of the ball bouncing atop the rim, fell through to give Lyon County the 48-46 win and 5th District championship title. The win came just after the Lyon County Lyons squad had reclaimed themselves as 5th District champions over Livingston Central’s Cardinals. However, Lyon’s boys were favored going into their championship game, the Lady Lyons were deemed the underdogs of their contest.
Head coach Jeff Doom commented that, “to God we give the victory because we are just amazed of how the girls stepped up in the District finals to get that win. The girls just willed themselves to victory. It was the best game, by far, that we have played all year from start to finish.”
Crittenden, who lost both of their starting forwards and scoring forces to fouling out early in the fourth quarter, had Jessi Hodge score the first four points and give the Lady Rockets an early 4-0 lead to begin the contest. Lyon capitalized on Lady Rocket’s Summer Courtney’s foul trouble in order to get back into the contest and cut Crittenden’s lead to 6-4 before an Aubrey Riggs three pointer gave Lyon their first lead of the night at 7-6 with 3:18. After Courtney left the game, Lyon went on a 9-2 run to end the quarter and take a 13-8 lead over the Lady Rockets. Hodge, Crittenden’s sophomore guard, was able to keep the game close as she hit back to back baskets as she continued to drive into the lane, sparking a run of their own to take the lead at 17-15 with 2:50 remaining in the first half. Krista McGill was able to tie the contest from the free throw line as she hit both of her attempts soon after Crittenden took the lead. Doom hit a shot from the block and was fouled in the process, allowing her the opportunity to make Lyon’s lead three points with 1:17. Doom missed the free throw and gave the Lady Rockets a chance to tie the game before the break. Hodge was able to draw a foul and go to the free throw line for the chance to tie the game at 21 apiece, but she made one of two with 3.3 seconds remaining and allowed Lyon to take the 21-20 advantage into halftime. Allison West extended Lyon’s lead to five as she drained a three pointer with 4:42 left in the third quarter. The Lady Lyons were able to rebound the ball well and limited the top seed’s opportunities to score. Crittenden did come back after the midway point of the quarter to tie the game. Doom stepped up for Lyon, who leads the District in senior members, again by hitting one of two free throw attempts to make the lead 33-32 with 1:10 remaining. Hodge assisted on back to back layups by Hannah Brantley to end the period. Hodge’s passes to each Brantley basket gave Crittenden the 36-33 lead that ended the third quarter. Lyon was able to draw the fifth and final foul on Whitney Johnson by the 5:25 mark and capitalized by tying the game at 38-38 from the free throw line because of it. Just 27 seconds later, Courtney picked up her final foul and left the Lady Rockets without either of their starting forwards for the reminder of the contest. Riggs assisted on a Sarah White layup with a no look pass that put Lyon up 43-41 at the 3:07 mark. In the final of eight ties of the night, Crittenden was able to tie the game at 46-46 before using a timeout to draw up a final play with 1:31 on the clock. The Lady Rockets held the ball until the 19.1 mark of the game, when a critical walk call turned the ball over to Lyon. The Lady Lyons managed to get the ball down to the offensive end of the court with 7.6 seconds remaining before calling head coach Doom called a timeout to draw up a winning play. Rhodes’ basket under the goal sent the gymnasium and all of the Lady Lyons into celebration mode as time expired.
“There was an option for all five girls on the floor that whoever had the opportunity for an open shot was supposed to take it. First of all it was a heads up play by Sidney to find the open player and find Brittany open outside and Allison cleared out and Rachel did a great post move. Particularly it was a great pass by Brittany to get the ball inside.” Head coach Doom said of the last play and what went on in the huddle with 7.6 seconds left.
Lyon was led in scoring by Doom, who had an 18 point performance. The senior forward had a field goal in every quarter; eight of her points came in the opening half of play. Despite only hitting 50 percent of her free throws (4/8), Doom was able to lead all scorers in the contest. Doom also sank seven field goals, most of which came as she drove down the lane and past her defender. Rhodes, who also had 11 rebounds, recorded 11 points on Crittenden County. She hit two field goals to go along with seven of eight free throw attempts (88 percent). Down the stretch, Rhodes made five of six free throw attempts (83 percent) along with her final field goal in District action. Riggs made Lyon’s only three point goal along the way to her 10 points. Only three of Riggs’ points came after the halftime break. Three baskets from inside of the arc along with one of two free throws (50 percent) allowed her to finish the game as Lyon’s third leading scorer. As a team, Lyon had 14 field goals against the Lady Rockets, 12 of which were credited to the efforts of Riggs, Doom, and Rhodes. From the free throw line, Lyon County made 14 of 20 free throws (70 percent). The top three scorers along with West were selected to the all 5th District team.
Hodge edged out Laken Tabor to take leading scorer honors for the Lady Rockets. Five field goals and five of six free throws from Hodge allowed the junior guard to score 15 points on Lyon’s defense along with seven assists. Hodge had a field goal in every quarter of play. Tabor accounted for all three of Crittenden’s three point goals along the way to 14 points in the contest. Tabor also made her only free throw attempt and two field goals from two-point range. Crittenden, who will graduate two seniors from this year’s team, had six points from senior forward Hannah Brantley. Brantley, who was often the recipient of Hodges’ assists, scored three baskets from two-point territory. Tabor and Hodge made six of Crittenden’s seven free throw completions; they attempted nine for a 77 percent free throw percentage. The Lady Rockets made 15 field goals, 10 of which were credited to the top three scorers.
“I have to thank the fans, the boys’ basketball players, and Lyon County students. They were our inspiration. Kelsey and Jochelle (Faulkner) gave me an inspirational speech earlier in the week and we used that at halftime. The girls really responded to that and didn’t want to walk off that floor knowing that they hadn’t given everything they had. Great fan support from the kids and the parents who made a lot of noise which made us feel as if we were playing at home. This was a huge life, it was our sixth man and I give them a lot of credit,” said the head coach of the fans.
Lyon drew Webster County, who will have home court advantage, for the first round of the 2nd Region tournament. They played prior to press time. The winner of the Webster-Lyon will take on either Madisonville-North Hopkins or Hopkinsville on Friday, March 5 at 6. Lyon has lost to both Madisonville and Hopkinsville in their only games with them this season. The championship of the 2nd Region will be held on Saturday, March 6 at 7. The winner of the top portion of the bracket (Webster, Lyon, Madisonville-North Hopkins, or Hopkinsville) will face the winner out of the bottom portion of the bracket (Caldwell, Henderson, Christian, or Crittenden) in the championship. The Lady Lyons have lost both of their contests against Caldwell, have not faced Henderson or Christian, and defeated Crittenden in Districts after losing to them twice in the regular season. All games of the single elimination Regional tournament will be held at Webster County.