Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Clay County Lady Bulldogs took down Cumberland County (Ky) on Tuesday 51-33 to close out play in the Clay County Christmas Classic.
The two teams started out slow on offense, as they each managed just eight points to go into the second quarter all tied up. The Lady Bulldogs began to pull away slightly in the frame by outscoring Cumberland County 16-8.
That added up to a 24-16 lead for the home team.
The Lady Bulldog defense turned up the heat in the third quarter, holding the visitors to just five points to increase the lead to 36-21. Cumberland began to find success on offense in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough, as the Lady Bulldogs closed out a 51-33 victory.
Halle Buford led the way with 13 points, while Madison Hayes and Laci Wix added eight points apiece for head coach Matthew Walker.
“We didn’t shoot the ball as well as we did last night, but outside of the first few minutes, I thought our defense settled in,” Walker said. “When you hold a team to 33 points, you’ve got a chance to win most nights.”
The defense keep Cumberland from taking any kind of lead early on, something that Walker attributed to their constant emphasis on that end of the floor.
“Defense is what we prioritize,” Walker said. “We tell the girls that shooting comes and goes, but defense travels all the time. They know they have to lock in, especially in our district.”
The Clay County Bulldogs fell behind early and couldn’t complete the comeback in a tough 75-64 loss at the hands of Bradley Central.
A day after scoring 46 points in a win over Hampton, Grant Strong one-upped himself by scoring a game-high 47 points to lead Clay County.
“I saw some good things, especially in the second half,” said CCHS head coach Rob Edwards. “We were pretty resilient in the second half, cut it down to six points. We just didn’t have enough fuel to finish it.”
One thing Edwards has harped on in all three of Clay’s losses has been their defense. Normally their bread and butter, he says it’s going to have to get better for his team to achieve their goals with district play on the horizon.
“We just have to guard better,” Edwards said. “If you score 64 points, you should win…when we give up more than 70 or 75 points, its hard for us to win.”
The two teams will wrap up their 2021 slate in two different tournaments on Dec. 27-29. The boys will be at Wayne County high school in Kentucky, while the girls will be in the Richland Christmas Classic.
