Lady Marshals trounce Tilghman in season finale

MCHS outscores Tornado 70-27 after first quarter

By Justin McGill
Tribune-Courier Managing Editor
jmcgill@tribunecourier.com

PADUCAH – Marshall County trailed by 10 points early in Saturday’s 82-48 shellacking of Paducah Tilghman. Might the sudden turnaround be a sign of things to come in the postseason for the Lady Marshals? Head coach Howard Beth hopes so.

“We played three of the top 10 teams in the state this season,” Beth said. “The other teams that have beat us have super records. Hopefully, with games like this and in the district and region tournament, games like that will help us. That’s why we had the schedule we had.”

MCHS is one of only two 1st Region teams to defeat Tilghman this season, the other being 4th District leader Calloway County. First-round district tournament wins next week would pit Calloway and the Lady Marshals in their third matchup of the year.

Saturday, MCHS took an early 5-3 lead before a 16-4 Tilghman run gave the Lady Tornado their largest lead of the contest at 19-9 with two minutes left in the first quarter. Tilghman led 21-12 after the first quarter.

MCHS then scored the first eight points of the second quarter, keeping Tilghman off the scoreboard for the first 4:13 of the frame. The lead changed hands three times over the next few minutes until a basket and two free throws by Karra Fisk and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Ashley Smith put the Lady Marshals ahead 33-27 at halftime.

“We were only up by two, so from that point on, the momentum was on our side,” Beth said of Smith’s shot. “One play like that is big.”

MCHS turned up the pressure on defense to start the second half and it resulted in three consecutive fast-break baskets by Hannah Ellis. The Lady Marshals scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to take complete control of the contest.

“The press really got us going, got us passing the ball better,” Beth said. “We wanted an up-tempo game, and the press allowed us to get into that. We scored in transition, and once you can do that and find some rhythm, everything seems to go better.”

When Tilghman was able to get into a halfcour offensive set, MCHS was able to stifle them there, as well.

“We recognized a little better what they were doing in the second half,” Beth said.” “We weren’t getting set in the first half.”

Beth said much of the credit for that success goes to his point guards Margaret Thomas and Jordan Gilland.

“Whoever I had at point guard tonight caused a lot of melees,” Beth said. “They disrupted Tilghman’s offense completely.”

Gilland (back) and Fisk (wrist) each went to the bench with minor injuries during the contest but returned later, neither showing any signs of slowing down. Aside from those hiccups, the team appears to be closer to full strength than it’s been all season, and with a week off to prepare for the postseason, Beth said his substitution patterns can finally find some regularity.

“We finally got everyone back healthy,” Beth said. “We subbed differently than normal, and I think our rhythm after the first quarter was good.”

MCHS hosts the 4th District Tournament this year. Top-seed Calloway will play Murray at 6 p.m. Monday, with the No. 2 Lady Marshals playing Community Christian Academy at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The championship game is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28.

Marshall County 82,
Paducah Tilghman 48
Saturday @ Paducah

Marshall County 12 21 25 24
Pad. Tilghman 21 6 8 13

TEAM STATS
Shooting
Overall: MC 66.7% (30/45)
PT 37% (17/46)
3-pointers: MC 66.7% (6/9) PT 30% (6/20)
Free throws: MC 76.2% (16/21)
PT 38.1% (8/21)

Turnovers MC 20
Rebounds: MC 34 (Holder 13)

Assists: MC 24 (Fisk 7)
Steals: MC 16 (Thomas/Gilland
4)
Fouls: MC 18
PT 19
Fouled out: MC - none
PT - none

INDIVIDUAL STATS
MC: Holder 10-16 (1-3) 5-5 26; Ellis 9-13 1-2 19; Smith 2-4 (1-1) 2-2 7; Thomas 1-1 1-2 3; Fisk 1-3 2-2 4; Tabor 5-8 (4-5) 2-2 16; Gilland 0-1 3-4 3; Clark 1-1 2; Fehrenbacher 1-1 2

PT: Flowers 0-2 2-4 2; N. Shumpert 2 (5) 2-7 21; Hill 7 2-3 16; C. Shumpert 2 2-6 6; Jackson 0 (1) 0-1 3