Frankfort —
The Somerset Lady Briar Jumpers tipped off in the opening round of the Touchstone Energy All ‘A’ Classic at the Frankfort Civic Center late Wednesday night, within shouting distance of the State Capital Building.
Unfortunately for Chris Adkins and crew, at the end of a long, long night in the capital city, it was the Monroe County Lady Falcons that had ‘laid down the law’ on an outmanned Somerset squad, despite a valiant effort by the Lady Jumpers.
Dwayne Murray’s club – ranked number six in the state of Kentucky in the latest rankings by The Associated Press – overcame a sluggish start by beginning the second period with a 10-0 run, shot 59.1 percent from the field in the first half of play and 55.3 percent for the game, and withstood a furious Somerset rally in the fourth quarter.
As a result, the Lady Falcons led from wire to wire in handing Somerset a 58-48 loss.
“I told the girls after the game that there have been a lot of games in my career where I’ve been disappointed when the game was over, but I was not disappointed at all tonight,” stated coach Adkins, who saw his team fall to 9-10 on the year with the opening round loss.
“We were playing behind the eight ball tonight because we couldn’t press like we normally do due to all the injuries that we’re dealing with, but our effort was outstanding,” continued the SHS coach. “We had it down to six inside the final minute and Cassie (Bray) had an open three, and if she would have made it, it would have been a three point game. And, we did it against a very good Monroe County team, that I think when I looked at the Dave Cantrell rankings this morning, they were about a 25 to 28-point favorite over us.”
Indeed, Monroe County was a prohibitive favorite over Somerset heading into this first round matchup in the All ‘A’ Classic, but it was the Lady Jumpers that refused to wilt in an underdog role.
The Lady Falcons, behind the 11 points of Caylan Bybee and 10 points from Madison Clements, rushed out to a double digit lead over Somerset, leading Adkins and company 31-21 by the intermission.
“We had no answer for the big girl (Bybee) inside, but we did the best that we could,” stated Adkins. “I think she’s either 6’1” or 6’2”, and when Madison (Brooks) got into foul trouble – she had been doing a good job of blocking her out on rebounds – and we brought in Carmella (Jackson) who is 5’5””.
Leading the Lady Jumpers by that 31-21 margin at the break, the Lady Falcons appeared to be on the verge of blowing Somerset out of the building, holding the purple and gold to just two made field goals in the third period.
Thanks to that stifling defense, Monroe County led Somerset 46-28 through three quarters of play.
Somerset was in big-time trouble, but the Lady Jumpers were far from dead, thanks to a big-time comeback over the game’s final eight minutes.
Cassie Bray – playing with a severe sprained ankle – helped Somerset come back from the dead, along with fellow seniors Alyssa Anciro and Mariko Krause.
Anciro scored all 10 of her points in the final frame, helping the Lady Jumpers cut into the Monroe County lead.
Down by 20 points in the fourth quarter, a Krause three-pointer with 4:15 left in the game trimmed the deficit to 51-36, but the Lady Jumpers were far from done.
An Anciro three whittled the deficit to 51-40, as Somerset would be in the midst of a 12-0 spurt.
A Bray three-pointer got the Lady Jumpers to within six, 51-45, but that would be as close as Somerset would get, as Monroe County would seal this one at the charity stripe coming down the stretch.
“That’s a wonderful team that we just played and we had read all the press clippings about them,” pointed out coach Adkins.
“We knew what we were faced with tonight, but our girls showed no fear tonight from the start,” continued the SHS head coach. “To think at the end, with less than a minute to go we had a chance to win this game, that’s something for us to be very proud of. When you look at Monroe
County’s record, who they’ve beaten, and how the pollsters feel about them, you can see how good they really are, and we had a chance to beat them.”
Somerset, now 9-10 on the season, will return to action on on Saturday, Jan. 28, when they play in the Berea College Prep Classic against Pendleton County High School.
MC – 14 17 15 12 — 58
SHS – 12 9 7 20 — 48
Monroe Co. – Clements 20, Bybee 18, Turner 11, Kirkpatrick 5, Harlin 4
Somerset – Bray 15, Krause 10, Anciro 10, Brooks 6, Edwards 5, Mills 2
Local Sports
Related Photos
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Somerset High School senior Mariko Krause (right) drives against Monroe County High School junior Molly Harlin in the Touchstone Energy All "A" Classic State Tournament at Frankfort Civic Center on Wednesday night. Monroe County won 58-48. Steve Cornelius Photo
Lady Jumpers fall to No. 6 Monroe Co., 58-48
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