Lawrence Central had its most impressive days of the season on Saturday, December the 6th, at the Hoops 4 Harvest shootout at Dixie Heights High School in Kentucky. The Bears played two of the top teams in Kentucky on the same day and came out with two hard-fought wins. In the morning game, LC took down number 1 ranked Cooper High School, then came back in the afternoon and defeated number 4 ranked Ryle High School with a comeback finish.
The matchup with Cooper was intense right from the tipoff at the start of the game. Both teams traded the lead throughout the first half, with each side going up by as many as six points. LC closed the first half with a 26 to 20 at the break. Early in the second half the Bears kept the momentum going and pushed the lead to 12, but Cooper refused to go away. They slowly clawed their way back and tied the game at 47 with 2:13 left. LC stayed calm and ran their offense. With 1:19 to go in the fourth quarter, sophomore Leanah Hyatt stepped up and drained a clutch three-pointer to put the Bears up by three. LC moved the ball, drained the clock, and played tough defense to finish off with a 51 to 49 win.
The second game against Ryle ended up being even more dramatic. LC trailed by seven points with only 23.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter and it looked like they were about to take their first loss of the season. Then everything changed. Lola Lampley came down the floor and drilled a deep three with 17.1 seconds left. That shot also made history because it was her 1,000th career point. After an Aniyah McKenzie defensive play forced a turnover, Lampley drew a foul and sank both free throws to cut the lead to four. LC set up their full court defense to force turnovers. They forced another turnover off a tipped pass by Hyatt’s pressure, which led to a fast break layup from Aubri Ingram that made it a two-point game with 4.7 seconds left. On the inbound, LC’s full court defense came through again as KeKe Butler forced a huge turnover and got fouled going to the basket with just 0.3 seconds remaining. She hit both free throws under major pressure, giving the Bears an unbelievable 46 to 45 comeback win.
Lola led the bears with 43 total points across the two games and led the Bears on both ends of the floor by also racking up 17 rebounds on the day too. The entire team stepped up in big moments to help LC remain undefeated. The Bears defeated Southport High School and Ben Davis High School this week in the first and seconds rounds of the Marion County Tournament. They now face off in the semifinals on Saturday morning versus Roncalli at 10:30 A.M. If the Bears win they will play the winner of Brebeuf Jesuit Prepatory School and Pike High School for the Marion County Tournament Championship.
