By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
With its top two scorers on the bench, Ryle got off to a shaky start against Letcher County Central in the first round of the Mingue Beef Jerky/KHSAA Sweet 16 girls state tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Rupp Arena.
Senior guard Maddie Scherr did not play in the game because she’s still nursing a sprained ankle and junior guard Brie Crittendon joined her on the bench after being charged with her second foul in the first two minutes of the game.
Letcher Central took advantage of their absence and jumped ahead, 14-9, but the Raiders settled down and eventually got into a flow that resulted in a 59-36 victory for the defending state champions.
“It doesn’t matter how you start, it matters how you end,” Ryle freshman guard Abby Holtman said in a post-game interview. “We just kept fighting and changed the game plan a little bit and it ended up doing well for us.”
Ryle (23-11) advances to the quarterfinals and will play Bullitt East (25-7) at noon on Friday. That gives Scherr, the most valuable player in last year’s state tournament, an extra day to recover from her injury. But her playing status probably won’t be decided until game time.
Scherr and Crittendon have a combined scoring average of 30.4 points per game so the Raiders had to use other offensive options in Wednesday’s first-round game. Holtman and eight-grade center Sarah Baker both scored 11 points and so did Crittendon after sitting out most of the first half with two fouls.
Ryle had a good defensive outing, forcing the Cougars to commit 22 turnovers and scoring 25 points off their mistakes. The Raiders also buckled down on defensive boards after giving up seven second-chance points in the first quarter.
“We had to calm ourselves down a little bit,” said Ryle coach Katie Haitz. “We weren’t boxing out on rebounds. Once we did that, I thought we did a better job of handling their physicality inside.”
Ryle closed the second quarter with a 10-3 run and a last-second 3-point goal by Holtman gave her team a 25-20 halftime lead. A trey by Crittendon opened up a 38-22 margin with 3:06 left in the third quarter.
After the Cougars pulled to with eight points, 40-32, early in the fourth quarter, the Raiders closed out the game with a 19-4 run that included eight points by Baker and six by Crittendon.
Ryle was 6-of-11 from the field in the fourth quarter and ended up shooting 37.3 percent (22 of 59) for the game compared to Letcher Central’s 24.4 percent (11 of 45). The Raiders definitely need to work on their free throw shooting after going 9-of-20 for 45 percent.
Letcher County sophomore Kaylee Banks scored a game-high 21 points with 13 rebounds to post the game’s only double-double. Ryle eighth-grader Quinn Eubank had eight points, eight rebounds two blocks and two steals in her state tournament debut.
In January, Ryle defeated Bullitt East, 82-73, in the Louisville Invitational Tournament. Scherr and Crittendon scored a combined total of 60 points in that game so the Raiders would like to have them both on the court for Friday’s rematch in the state tournament quarterfinals.
RYLE 9 16 15 19 — 59
LETCHER CENTRAL 14 6 10 6 — 36
RYLE (23-11): Eubank 4 0 8, Crittendon 3 3 11, Holtman 4 0 11, Johnson 2 1 5, Douthitt 3 0 7, Baker 4 0 11, Strode 1 1 3, Crist 1 0 2, Schwartz 0 1 1. Totals: 22 9 59.
LETCHER CENTRAL (25-11): Banks 6 8 21, Couch 1 0 3, Bates 2 0 5, Collins 1 2 4, Craft 1 0 2, Banks 0 1 1. Totals: 11 11 36.
3-pointers: R — Holtman 3, Crittendon 2, Douthitt. LC — Couch, Bates, Banks.