Mason County’s Hannah Adkins hit four 3-pointers and scored 22 points in the Lady Royals 55-40 victory over St. Patrick Wednesday night at The Fieldhouse. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Hannah Adkins could tell Wednesday would be a good 3-point shooting night in the pregame warmups.
“Before we started the game, I made 11 or 12 in a row,” Mason County’s senior forward said. “So then I knew it was going to be a good shooting night.”
It was. Adkins’ 22 points included four from distance, and the Lady Royals took down St. Patrick, 55-40, at The Fieldhouse.
Mason County has dominated the intra-city rivalry – the Lady Royals (7-4, 2-0 in the 39th District) have won 27 of 32 meetings since 1998.
Adkins averaged 8.4 points a game before Wednesday’s game against St. Patrick. She surpassed that in a little more than four minutes – three long, far ones in the first quarter’s final minute, and another a little more than two minutes into the second stanza.
“I can feel whenever it’s going to drop, and I can feel when it’s not,” Adkins said. “So when it’s not, I look to pass it to my teammates inside who are cutting and give them the assist.”
Mason County coach Kevin Bundy said it’s the other things you don’t always notice – taking care of the ball, rebounding, guarding her opponent – that leads to more minutes.
“And that allows her to shoot shots that she can make,” Bundy said.
Mason County would not have enjoyed the win if not for junior forward Avery Sims – she added 18 points.
Despite Wednesday’s loss, it’s been a while since St. Patrick has started so strong. The Lady Saints’ 9-2 record is the best since a 9-1 to begin the 2009-10 year.
“We’ve got a good group of athletes,” Lady Saints coach Andy Arn said. “Last year we didn’t have any seniors. This year, we have one senior, and our juniors have a lot of experience.”
Mason County’s season has been both satisfying as hitting a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer from half-court and depressing as missing a free throw to send a game to overtime.
The Lady Royals began with consecutive wins over St. Henry, Harlan, Bracken County and Robertson County. After that, losses to George Rogers Clark and Conner, a win over Pendleton County, setbacks against Rowan County and Newport Central Catholic, Tuesday’s 49-40 home win over Lloyd Memorial and Wednesday’s win.
“It’s a work in progress,” Bundy said. “We do things better now than we did Dec. 1. The goal here is to continue doing better and better, so that by March 1 we’re playing our best basketball; it’s ebbs and flows right now.”
Wednesday, you could be forgiven if you wondered how long it would take for either team to score. Sims opened the offense with a layup off Allison Gibbs’ assist with 4:10 to go in the first, and Allison Hughes (who led the Lady Saints with 18 points) followed with a pair of free throws with 2:47 remaining.
“Sometimes we have slow starts,” Sims said.
Bundy wasn’t surprised with how Wednesday’s proceedings went early.
“We’ve played 11 games now, and we’ve been out of the 20s in field goal percentage one time,” Bundy said.
The rest of the quarter – all Lady Royals.
Start with Sims’ two free throws with 2:24 left. Next was Sarah Payne’s steal of the ensuing inbounds pass and layup, followed by Adkins’ three 3s in about a minute.
“That’s my fault,” Arn said of Adkins being open. “We were trying to trap where we could, and when you bring that trap, unless you’re really planning for it, you’re going to end up leaving somebody open, and I take full responsibility for it.”
The result: a 13-2 Lady Royals run (St. Patrick’s Mandi Gilbert’s bucket with 24 seconds to go was the only Lady Saint scoring) and a 15-4 lead after eight minutes.
St. Patrick’s 5-2 mini-run to open the second quarter was accomplished at the free throw line; Hughes was 4 for 4, and Izzy Riggs made one of two, which pulled the Lady Saints to within 17-9.
Adkins squashed the rally with 7-0 streak over the next two minutes with a runout layup, a 3 from the right corner another layup. St. Patrick, meanwhile, missed four free throws.
The Lady Saints came no closer than 40-32 two minutes into the fourth quarter on Riggs’ four points.
St. Patrick is scheduled to play in the RULH Holiday Tournament Dec. 29-30 at Ripley. Mason County is off until Jan. 6, when they meet Bourbon County in the Kentucky 2A Sectional.
LADY ROYALS 55, LADY SAINTS 40
ST. PATRICK—4-9-12-15—40
MASON CO.—15-13-11-16—55
Scoring
St. Patrick (40) – McKay 2, Roush 9, Gilbert 2, Riggs 7, Klee 2, Hughes 18.
Mason Co. (55) – Payne 4, Gibbs 3, Harrison 4, Adkins 22, Thomas 4, Sims 18.
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: St. Patrick 2 (Roush and Hughes); Mason Co. 5 (Adkins 4, Gibbs).
Free Throws: St. Patrick 18-28; Mason Co. 17-26.
Fouls: St. Patrick 15, Mason Co. 13.
Fouled out: St. Patrick–None ; Mason Co. – None.
Records: St. Patrick (9-2, 1-1 in the 39th District), Mason Co. (7-4, 2-0).
