Lady Rebels clinch three more wins

The Lady Rebels continue their winning ways, getting big district wins and sweeping their district season series over Somerset and Pulaski County. Casey also won a close game over Madison Central on Saturday in a non-district showdown. The Lady Rebels did lose at Rockcastle but remain in second place in the district standings.

Chris Zollner

Lakken Miller has the goal in sight as she goes up over her Pulaski County opponent during a district game last week. Miller, an eighth-grader, scored 5 in Casey’s 51-38 win.

Chris Zollner

B.J. Hogue, right, hangs on desperately to the ball as teammate Katie Douglas moves in to offer assistance. Casey won this jump ball possession in Monday night’s game against Somerset and also took the win, 43-31.

Casey 43, Somerset 31
The Lady Rebels were playing their fourth game in six days Monday night as they welcomed Somerset to town in a make-up game from Jan. 7 that was snowed out. Fatigue appeared to be a factor early in the game but the Lady Rebs overcame it to get a 43-31 win over the Lady Jumpers.
Casey started slow and allowed Somerset to jet to a 6-point advantage in the opening quarter.
“This was our fourth game of the week and before that, we didn’t have a game for a whole week because of the weather. So, this was an interesting few days for us and I could tell that fatigue had caught up with us. We weren’t as aggressive and gave them too many good looks at the basket. They got several second chance opportunities because we weren’t screening out well,” Coach Randy Salyers said of his team’s first quarter effort.
But Casey began trimming that lead in the second frame. Jasmine Johnson robbed a Somerset guard and cruised down the court for a layup which cut the Somerset edge to two.
Later in the quarter, Nicole Coffman scored a jumper to give Casey its first lead of the game. The Lady Rebs led by two at the halftime intermission, 21-19.
“At halftime we discussed how to limit their second chance opportunities and talked about pressuring the ball more effectively. I think they executed that in the second half. Somerset only converted one three in the second half and did not shoot the ball well. They struggled to create shots,” Salyers said.
Somerset shot only 3-for-10 from the field in the second half. The Lady Rebel defense also forced 17 turnovers, most of which came in the second half.
Johnson buried a three-point basket in the third quarter to stretch the Casey lead to 9 and finished with 12 points in the game.
“Jasmine was struggling shooting the ball early this season. Now her shots are starting to fall and that builds confidence. She works extremely hard for us every game,” Salyers said.
Coffman, who led scoring with 17, iced the game late to give the Lady Rebels the 12-point victory.

Casey 56, Madison
Central 51
The Lady Rebels traveled to Richmond Saturday and faced off against Madison Central, taking home a 56-51 win.
The game was extremely close throughout with neither team holding more than a 5-point lead. The Lady Rebs trailed by one, 87-36, entering the final stanza but outscored Central 20-14 in the final quarter to get the win. Casey converted eight consecutive free throws down the stretch and shot 85 percent for the game.
“This was a very well-played game by both teams. They had three girls who could really play and they managed to get most of their points. But we managed to shut down their other players and contested nearly all their shots. In the end, we won it at the free throw line,” Salyers said.
Coffman racked up 26 points while Johnson and B.J. Hogue had 11 and 10, respectively. Katy Laman was not far behind with 9.

Rockcastle 53, Casey 23
The Lady Rockets handed Casey just their third loss of the season Friday night in a district double-header on the road. Casey was stifled by Rockcastle’s defense, which held Casey to a season-low 23 points and limited Coffman to a season-low eight points.
“They did a good job on defense. They put a lot of pressure on Nicole and most of her shots were heavily-contested or right off the dribble. They did a good job of helping each other on defense. They just got the better of us in every facet of the game. They shot better, anticipated better, and played better defense. Nothing seemed to work for us,” Salyers said.
The Lady Rebels only lead was 5-4 lead midway through the first quarter. But Rockcastle started a spurt and it “snowballed” from there, Salyers said.

Casey 51, Pulaski 38
Eight Lady Rebels got in the scoring column Jan. 18 as Casey grabbed a 13-point win over district foe Pulaski County. Coffman led those scorers with 16 while Hogue contributed 11.
“We really like what we are seeing out of B.J. She is improving her foot speed and agility. This allows her to be more alert and aggressive. She is quick to the ball and also moves quickly on the defensive end for us,” Salyers said.
A key to the Lady Rebel win was shot selection. Casey shot 46 percent from the field and only turned the ball over nine times.
The Lady Rebs also put on a stellar defensive performance, holding Pulaski to only 38 points and contesting many Lady Maroons shots, especially in the second half. Pulaski scored four three-point jumpers in the first half but Casey’s defense didn’t allow a three in the second half.

Pittman’s status
Salyers said that Megan Pittman’s status is still “day by day.”
The team continues to monitor her progress and is hopeful she could return to limited action this Saturday when the Lady Rebels take on Boyle County. Salyers said if Pittman returns, she would play just a few minutes to see how she does at real-game speed.

Stats

Jan. 18 at Liberty
Casey                                 16  11  11  13 -- 51
Pulaski                                12    8  10    8 -- 38
Casey (11-3) — Nicole Coffman 16, 8 rebs; B.J. Hogue 11, 5 rebs; Jasmine Johnson 7, Katy Laman 5, Lakken Miller 5, Jamie Wesley 4, Christian Terry 2, Kayla Wilson 1.
Pulaski (10-8) — H. Warren 11, Tilley 5, Phelps 5, B. Warren 4, Howard 4, Correll 4, Boatman 3, Burkett 2.

Jan. 21 at Mt. Vernon
Casey                                  5    3    5  10 --  23
Rockcastle                          13  14  12  14  -- 53
Casey (11-4) — Coffman 8, Laman 6, Johnson 3, Terry 3, Hogue 2, Miller 1.
Rockcastle (17-1) — Hammond 23, Lawrence 13, Hunter 5, Chasteen 4, Abney 2, Arvin 2, Burton 2, McQueary 2.
Jan. 22 at Richmond
Casey                      16  14    6  20 -- 56
Madison Central        14  12  11  14 -- 51

Casey (12-4) — Coffman 26, Johnson 11, Hogue 10, Laman 9.
Madison Central (10-6) — Cornelison 15, Felthaus 13, Brooks 12, Congleton 8, Parks 3.

Jan. 24 at Liberty
Casey                                      9  12   9  13 -- 43
Somerset                               12    7   5    7 -- 31

Casey (13-4) — Coffman 17, Johnson, 12, Terry, 5, Hogue 5, Wesley 2, Miller 2.
Somerset (6-11) — Edwards 2, Brooks 6, Bray 11, Thomas 12.