Sparta
After a huge early-round win and then a nail-biter in the quarterfinals, the White County Warriorettes found themselves facing the Letcher County Cougars, out of Kentucky, in Monday’s semi-final round at the 35th Annual Sunshine Classic basketball tournament. White County put up a huge victory, taking a 54-15 win to cruise into the championship round tomorrow.
White County won the tip, and it was Gracie Clark who had an easy layup to get the Warriorettes on the board first. Clark then tipped the inbound pass and sent it to Ashlyn Selby. Selby was fouled as she shot and added two points from the foul line to get the Warriorettes off to a solid 4-0 start. The White County backcourt pressure kept Letcher County off balance for much of the first quarter. The Warriorettes shooting was off, but their rebounding – on both ends of the court – kept the ball bouncing in their favor, and they took an 18-4 lead into the start of the second quarter.
The scoring slowed down at the start of the next period, but the Warriorette defense kept pressing and trapping the Cougars until their offense got back in synch. Bella Winningham sparked the second quarter White County offense with a pair of threes.
As White County pushed their lead to 18 points, head coach Michael Dodgen started going to his bench, leaving just one starter on the court at a time. Dodgen called for the Warriorettes to back off the full court press once their lead increased to more than 20, but the margin between the numbers on the scoreboard just kept getting wider. By the time the teams headed to the locker room at the second buzzer, White County’s lead had stretched to 26 points.
The Warriorettes came back to the court with the same intensity they had in the first half. With their starting five back in the game, White County went on a 12–0 run over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the second half. When the lead expanded to 38 points, Dodgen came to the scorer’s table with a full, five-man switch giving all his starters the rest of the night off.
While the White County bench gave up a handful of points, it wasn’t nearly enough to make the game look like a contest. The Warriorettes cruised to the big 39-point win and advanced to the Sunshine Classic championship game, where they will face the Walnut Hills Eagles from Ohio. The game is scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Dec. 30.
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