MURRAY – Marshall County and Murray girls will meet in the 4th District Tournament Championship game Thursday after the Lady Marshals downed Calloway County Tuesday 47-26 to advance to the title game which gives them the automatic spot in next weeks 1st Region Tournament.
Murray knocked the Lady Marshals out in the semi-final round of the District Tournament last season and the three seasons prior to that, the two teams met in the championship game with the Lady Marshals winning two of three.
Lady Marshals Head Coach Joseph Simmons felt his team came out tight in Tuesday’s semi-final game, attributing a lot of it to the fact that just one of his starters has much post-season play experience.
“Everyone’s record is 0-0”, Simmons said about the start of post-season play. Simmons said he felt like his team was dialed in during the 4th quarter when they held Calloway County to zero points to finish out the game.
Over four minutes into the game, the two teams were tied 2-2 on baskets by Lexee Miller and Charlee Settle when Alicia Hornbuckle broke the tie with a 3-pointer to give Calloway the lead. With 1:05 left in the quarter, Hannah Langhi tied the game 5-5 then followed that with two free throws for a 7-5 Lady Marshals lead before a field goal at the buzzer by Alex Arnett tied the game again.
A basket by Nikki Fehrenbacher put the Lady Marshals up 9-7 to start the 2nd quarter and two more ties later, a free throw by Langhi and four straight points from Miyah Davis on a steal and free throws, put the Lady Marshals up 16-12 at halftime.
Miller scored the first four points of the second half to give the Lady Marshals a 20-12 lead. Calloway would cut the lead down to five twice before the Lady Marshals stretched it out to 10 points at 31-21. Baskets by Hornbuckle and Megan Greer cut the lead back to six with the quarter ending on a steal and basket by Fehrenbacher and free throw from Settle.
Leading 33-26 heading into the 4th quarter, the Lady Marshals shut down the Lady Lakers offense, out-scoring them 14-0 behind 11 points from Langhi and old fashion three by Davis.
Langhi led the Lady Marshals with 20 points and 6 rebounds with 3 blocked shots and 4 steals.
The Lady Marshals will face a very talented Murray Lady Tigers team which Simmons said has very few weaknesses. Tip off time is at 6:00 at Calloway County High School.
“We need to find ways to score and try to slow them down defensively and get out to a better start than the two regular season meetings”, Simmons said.
SCORING
Calloway: Greer 8, Hornbuckle 7, Settle 4, Fritts 3, Arnett 2, Ross 2
Marshall: Langhi 20, Miller 8, Davis 7, Fehrenbacher 6, English 3, Howard 2 Henson 1
Calloway: Field Goals 8/36, 3-pointers 2/7, Free Throws 8/13, Rebounds 30, Fouls 15, Turnovers 15
Marshall: Field Goals 15/35, 3-pointers 1/8, Free Throws 16/21, Rebounds 22, Fouls 22, Turnovers 5, Steals 12
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Calloway | 7 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 26 |
| Marshall | 7 | 9 | 17 | 14 | 47 |