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2/5/2016
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
That old cliche’, “That’s why we play the games” was certainly fitting Friday night as the Montgomery County High School girls pulled a stunner by beating Clark County, 56-53, at the Letcher Norton Gym in Winchester.
John High didn’t really have an answer as to exactly how his Lady Indians pulled off the win, other than the fact that his team seems to be understanding both their strengths and limitations and are figuring out how to elevate one and conceal the other.
“We’ve said all along it was going to be a process to get to where we wanted to be,” High said. “We’re still a long way from that point, but we’ve come a long way.”
The victory improved Montgomery County’s overall record to just 7-14 but the Lady Indians are now 3-1 in district play and are still in play to land the No. 1 seed in the 40th District Tournament that begins the post-season, now just three weeks away.
Clark County, which had beaten Montgomery County by 13 points just two weeks ago in a game they once led by 20, appeared ready to put the game away early when they jumped on top 13-4 in the early minutes of the game.
Montgomery County closed the gap to 17-12 at the end of the opening quarter with senior Sarah Arnett scoring eight of her 19 points in the opening period.
“Sarah helped us get going and that showed a lot of leadership on her part,” High said. “She was very relaxed, took good shots. In fact, we took good shots all night.”
That certainly showed up in the final statistics as the Tribe attempted just 35 field goals to Clark County’s 53 but the Indians made 18, just two short of the Cards total and also hit eight of 14 threes compared to Clark’s four of 18.
In the second period, Montgomery County’s dynamic scoring trio of Arnett, Delaney Bromagen and Kennedy Igo, combined for 21 points as the Tribe moved in front 33-32 at the half with Bromagen nailing a three-pointer just before the buzzer.
Montgomery County would never trail in the second half.
Eighth-grader Igo took control on offense in the third period, scoring nine of the Indians’ 12 points as they entered the final period with a 45-42 lead.
The led by as many as five points twice in the final period and could have put the game away in the closing minutes but they connected on just three of 13 free throws in the final period to give Clark County plenty of chances to come from behind.
Sydney Greene hit one of a pair of free throws with :19 to play to give the Lady Indians a three-point margin and the Montgomery County defense didn’t allow the Lady Cards to get a good look in the closing seconds.
Clark fell to 10-8 with the loss, their first in district play.
Arnett and Igo led the Lady Indians with 19 points apiece while Bromagen added 16.
“No question this was a real highlight moment for us this season and a great reward for how hard the girls have worked to improve,” High said.
“We hope we have a lot more highlight moments, we’ll just have to see.”
The Lady Indians were scheduled to play at Menifee County Tuesday night and they’ll host Tates Creek Thursday night.
That will be followed by a game against Paris at home Friday night as part of a girl/boy doubleheader.
Next week the Lady Indians will play at Bourbon County Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in a rescheduled contest. That game will precede a Bourbon County/Madison Southern boys’ game.
The following night the Lady Indians will host Nicholas County, a game that had been scheduled for Tuesday night.
“It feels good to have a shot at the No. 1 seed in the district this late in the season,” High noted. “Anytime you have something extra to play for it helps you in practice and really in every game you play because it heightens your desire to get better.”
Bourbon County and Clark County are scheduled to play Friday night and then the Indians’ games with Paris and Bourbon County will complete the district slate.
MCHS (56) — Sarah Arnett 5-10 5-6 19, Kennedy Igo 9-15 1-4 19, Lake Williamson 0-1 1-3 1, Delaney Bromagen 4-8 4-8 16, Mikayla Harris 0-1 0-2 0, Sydney Green 0-0 1-4 1. Totals 18-35 12-27 56.
Clark County (53) — Sydney Anderson 5-11 2-2 13, Maliyah Owens 2-9 0-0 5, Elizabeth Hardiman 5-10 1-2 11, Jasmine Flowers 5-12 3-4 15, Lauren Welsh 1-5 2-2 4, Maleah Bell 2-2 1-2 5, Mackenzie Cooper 0-2 0-0 0, Kylee Murray 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 9-12 53.
MCHS 12 21 12 11—56
Clark 17 15 10 11—53
Three-point field goals — MCHS 8-14 (Arnett 4-7, Bromagen 4-5); Clark County 4-18 (Anderson 1-6, Owens 1-4, Flowers 2-5). Rebounds — MCHS 32 (Williamson 4, Greene 4); Clark County 37 (Harriman 11). Turnovers — MCHS 24, Clark County 28. Total fouls — MCHS 13, Clark County 20. Fouled out — Welsh. Technical fouls — None.
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