Logan's Rylee Conn drives past Lincoln County's Kaden Peters (34) on her way to the basket. Conn scored eight points in the Lady Wildcats 42-36 victory over the Lady Panthers (Photo by Boothe Davis/Captured by the Moment Photography).
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
LOGAN Logan High School seniors combined to score 28 of the Lady Wildcats 42 points Monday night as the Class AAA ninth-ranked Lady Wildcats defeated Lincoln County 42-36 on senior night at the Willie Akers Arena.
Before the game, Logan honored its three seniors, Autumn Adkins, Natalie Blankenship and Rylee Conn, for their contributions to the program. As juniors, the three seniors won the first state championship in school history.
Blankenship had a game-high 14 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block shot. Conn finished with eight points and Adkins six points for the Lady Wildcats.
Logan led the entire game and led by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Panthers wouldn’t go down without a fight and clawed their way back to within six points on multiple occasions in the fourth quarter before the Lady Wildcats held on for the win.
Gracie Clay and Maci Lunsford each had nine points to lead Lincoln County in scoring. Elizabeth Blankenship and Hayden Moore each had seven points for the Lady Panthers.
Adkins gave Logan an early 3-0 lead following her 3-pointer with 7:12 to play in the first quarter. Elizabeth Blankenship’s basket with 6:48 to play cut the deficit to 3-2, but Logan responded with a 7-0 run to take a 10-2 lead on a pair of Bam Mosby free throws with 1:24 remaining.
Lincoln County went over six minutes without a point in the first half before Blankenship’s second field goal of the first quarter with 43 seconds remaining cut the deficit to 10-4.
Trailing by six after one quarter of play, Lincoln County was able to cut into the deficit and pull to within four, 10-6, on Moore’s basket with 6:26 to play before halftime, however, just like the first quarter, Logan held the Lady Panthers without a point for a extended period of time.
Logan led 16-6 on a pair of Natalie Blankenship free throws before Moore cut the deficit to eight, 16-8, with her second field goal of the quarter ending a 4:02 scoring drought for the Lady Panthers.
Conn’s layup with seven seconds remaining ended a 3:55 scoring drought for Logan and gave the Lady Wildcats a 10-point advantage, 18-8, at halftime.
The Lady Wildcats maintained a double digit lead through the third quarter before Lincoln County got an old fashioned 3-point play from Elizabeth Blankenship to cut the deficit to 25-18 with 57 seconds remaining.
Just like the end of the first half, Conn scored late in the period to give Logan a 27-18 lead heading to the fourth quarter. Natalie Blankenship started the fourth with a pair of field goals to push Logan’s advantage to 31-20 with 6:52 to play.
Over the next six minutes the lead never dipped below six points until Clay hit a short jumper with 16 seconds remaining to bring Lincoln County to within five points, 41-36, before Natalie Blankenship’s free throw with seven seconds remaining set the final score.
Mosby had seven points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Logan who also got seven points from Addyson Amick and six from Adkins. Halle Crouse failed to score in the contest but pulled down seven rebounds and had two steals for the Lady Wildcats.
Lincoln fell to 5-15 with the loss and was scheduled to host Class AA No. 3 Mingo Central before closing out the regular season Thursday at home against the Man Lady Hillbillies.
Logan finishes the regular season with an 11-11 record and will now turn its attention to the Class AA Region 4 Section 2 tournament.
Second-ranked Wayne is the top seed and will host fourth seeded Scott on Tuesday, Feb. 21, while Logan and Lincoln County will meet for a third time in less than a month.
Logan, seeded second in the sectional tournament, will host third seeded Lincoln County on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. at the Willie Akers Arena with the winner advancing to Friday’s sectional championship game.
Logan 42, Lincoln County 36
Lincoln County (5-15)
Clay 2-9 4-4 9, Lunsford 4-7 0-0 9, Blankenship 3-13 1-1 7, Moore 3-8 0-2 7,
Peters 2-8 0-0 4. Totals: 14-45 5-7 36.
Logan (11-11)
Blankenship 4-12 6-8 14, Conn 4-8 0-0 8, Mosby 2-4 3-6 7, Amick 2-5 2-3 7, Adkins 2-9 0-0 6, Crouse 0-5 0-2 0. Totals: 14-43 11-19 42.
Lincoln County 4 4 10 18- 36
Logan 10 8 9 15- 42
3-point field goals_Lincoln County 3-16 (Clay 1-3, Lunsford 1-3, Blankenship 0-6, Moore 1-3, Peters 0-1), Logan 3-15 (Blankenship 0-3, Amick 1-3, Adkins 2-7, Crouse 0-2). Fouled out_None. Rebounds_Lincoln County 27 (Peters 13), Logan 28 (Mosby 10). Assists_Lincoln County 8 (Clay 2, Lunsford 2, Peters 2), Logan 7 (Blankenship 3). Total fouls_Lincoln County 16, Logan 11. Technicals_None.