Simon Kenton TKO's Lady Dragons

SHELBYVILLE – In a battle of regional heavyweights, the South Oldham Lady Dragons couldn’t match Simon Kenton’s big punches, falling 55-34 in the regional semifinals Sunday. SOHS, 22-8, was outscored 12-3 in the second period, then watched as the Lady Pioneers opened the second half with a 12-1 scoring run to fall behind 30-17 at the midway point of the third period. “I think we blinked first,” SOHS coach Frank Wright said. “When they cranked up the physical intensity we didn’t match it.” The Lady Dragons led 16-12 in the second period, but failed to score over the last 3:24 of the first half as Simon Kenton came back to lead 18-16 at the end of the half. SOHS’ inability to score in the opening minutes of the second half could have come in part to star guard Lauren Jones getting cut over the eye in a collision with nine seconds left in the half. Jones, who led SOHS with 17 points, did not start the second half, but re-entered the game quickly when Simon Kenton took off on its run. “When Lauren got laid open it was a telling moment,” Wright said. “I am not sure how big an impact it had, but we did lose momentum. We were stuck on 16 points for a long time.” The Lady Pioneers started the second half hot thanks to a pair of inside baskets from Jessica Farris. Following an SOHS timeout and turnover, Chelsea Tolliver drove the lane for a shot and drew a foul from Kristin Mabrey. Her free throw put the Lady Pioneers up 25-16. Tolliver came up on defense on the next possession, stealing an Ally Byrd entry pass and hitting a layup.SOHS got a free throw from Jones, but Simon Kenton answered that with a three-pointer off the left wing from Tolliver to lead 30-19. SOHS tried one final rally on back-to-back threes from Jones and Jordann McGuffin that cut the lead to 33-25, but a shot in the lane from Tolliver and two free throws from Farris left SOHS down 37-25 at the close of the period. “I thought we might parlay those two threes into something, but we didn’t follow up,” Wright said. “They’re pretty strong, pretty physical and they made the plays they had to.” SIMON KENTON – 6 12 19 18 55 – Sydni Wainscott 9, Lauren Conley 9, Chelsea Tolliver 13, Ali Ponzer 2, Kayla Smith 2, Jessica Farris 11, Sam Wormald 11, Nikki Brown 8, Kayla Blevins 1, 55. SOHS – 13 3 9 9 34 – Lauren Jones 17, Meg McMullen 2, Amber Coniff 3, Kristin Mabrey 2, Allison Reynolds 2, Jordann McGuffin 5, Vicki Bray 3, 34.E-mail us about this story at:

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