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By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune contributor
FRANKFORT – The Holy Cross Indians made a strong comeback in the second half, but their final shot was blocked and Monroe County escaped with a 52-49 win in the opening round of the Kentucky All “A” Classic girls’ basketball tournament on Wednesday at Frankfort Convention Center.
Trailing by 14 points, 37-23, with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, Holy Cross mounted a rally and cut the margin to one point, 50-49, with 16 seconds left on the clock.
Monroe County struggled at the free throw line for most of the game, but senior guard Kelsey Johnson calmly nailed two clutch foul shots with 14.8 seconds remaining to give the Falcons a three-point lead. Holy Cross then rushed the ball up court and called a timeout with 5.2 seconds remaining to set up one final play.
The Indians planned to have senior guard Aleah Tucker pass the ball to senior forward Courtney Turner for a 3-point attempt, but Monroe County’s defense disrupted the play. Tucker had to take a contested shot that was blocked at the buzzer.
“It was supposed to go to our shooter, Courtney Turner,” Tucker said. “But they were face guarding (her) and I had no other choice.”
Holy Cross had a considerable size advantage with 6-foot-4 eighth-grader Sid Thomas and 6-foot-1 freshman Malyasia Chames sharing the low post. But Monroe County was able to control the tempo for long stretches during the game and finished with a 34-28 rebounding advantage.
“I knew Holy Cross was a big team,” said Monroe County coach Dwayne Murray. “We wanted to get them up and down the floor and get them in a running game. I thought we did a real good job of pushing the ball and getting baskets.”
The Falcons quickly jumped out to a 13-3 lead, but the Indians answered with a 13-1 run of their own to go on top, 16-14. A pair of 3-point goals by Turner sparked that run.
Holy Cross led by as much as four points in the second quarter before Monroe County made a charge that resulted in a 22-20 halftime lead. In the third quarter, the Falcons upped the tempo — forcing multiple Holy Cross turnovers — and took their biggest lead, 37-23, on a field goal by Johnson, who finished with a game-high 19 points.
That’s when the Indians launched their final comeback, beginning with an 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter, but they came up short at the end.
“On that run, we started believing, executing our stuff a little bit better, and had shots fall,” said Holy Cross coach Kes Murphy.
Holy Cross ended up shooting 42.1 percent (16 of 38) from the field compared to Monroe County’s 36.2 percent (17 of 47). The Falcons made 16 of 28 free throws while the Indians were 12 of 20 from the line.
The leading scorers for Holy Cross were sophomore guard Trinity McClendon with 10 points, followed by Turner and Thomas with nine points each.
Despite the tough loss, coach Murphy said his young team’s season is far from over.
“Things didn’t go our way at times,” he said. “But it’s a process, you learn from it and get better. I think our kids get that. We explained that after the game.”
HOLY CROSS 6 14 11 18 – 49
MONROE CO. 13 9 15 15 – 52
HOLY CROSS (13-7): Macke 0 1 1, Crigler 2 0 6, Turner 3 0 9, Tucker 1 6 8, McClendon 4 2 10, Thomas 4 1 9, Chames 2 2 6. Totals: 16 12 49.
MONROE COUNTY (20-2): Hammer 3 1 7, McGeorge 1 1 3, Johnson 6 7 19, Turner 4 6 16, Gearlds 2 1 5, Bybee 1 0 2. Totals: 17 16 52.
Three-pointers: HC – Turner 3, Crigler 2. MC – Turner 2.
All “A” Classic Boys State Tournament
THURSDAY — Upper bracket
Kentucky Country Day vs. Mayfield, 8:30 a.m.
East Ridge vs. Russellville, 10 a.m.
NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC vs. Cordia, 11:30 a.m.
Fort Knox vs. University Heights, 1 p.m.
THURSDAY — Lower bracket
Pineville vs. Owensboro Catholic, 5 p.m.
Paris vs. Elliott County, 6:30 p.m.
WALTON-VERONA vs. Danville, 8 p.m.
Louisville Holy Cross vs. Lexington Christian, 9:30 p.m.
FRIDAY — Quarterfinals
Upper bracket games, 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Lower bracket games, 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Upper bracket semifinal game, 6 p.m.
Lower bracket semifinal game, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Championship game, 2 p.m.