Beech Tree News Network

McLean County High School played host to the opening round of the 2012 Touchstone Energy All ‘A’ Classic on Saturday. The Lady Bears and Bears of Butler County played the first two games in the tourney, taking on the teams from Edmonson County High School.

The Lady Bears opened with the Lady Wildcats, a team that beat the Lady Bears in Brownsville on December 15 by a score of 46-25. Early on it was a pair of 7th graders that carried the load for the Lady Bears. Chloe Flener and Cheyenne White scored 4 points each in the first period to give the Bears the lead 8-7 after the first. Both girls have played key minutes for the Lady Bears this season and seemed to get a confidence boost after a competitive 46-36 loss at Logan County on Tuesday.

White opened the second period with a three-point goal to extend the Lady Bears lead. The BCHS fans watched then as the Lady Bears stifled the ECHS offense for the second period. The Lady Wildcats managed only 5 points in the period, and watched as the Lady Bears built a 20-12 lead at halftime. In the second period BCHS was led in scoring by Katie Graham who began to establish herself in the middle thanks to good passing from Madeline Drake and Shawna West.

The second half opened with ECHS turning up the defensive pressure in the face of the young Lady Bears. For the Lady Bears Madeline Drake, scoreless in the first half, hit from deep for two three-pointers as the ECHS girls tried to fight back into the game. Katie Graham continued to do work in the paint for BCHS, adding two baskets, with West, Flener, and Kasosha Turner adding two each as BCHS outscored ECHS 16-15 in the third and led 36-27 with a quarter to play.

The Lady Wildcats saved their most productive quarter until last. Madison Rich had seven in the fourth quarter as the Edmonson girls mounted a furious comeback. ECHS turned up the press and forced several BCHS turnovers early in the quarter, causing Coach Christy Clark to use her timeouts to settle the team. BCHS answered with a strong fourth period from sophomore Katie Graham. Graham had 9 of Butler’s 14 fourth quarter points, none bigger than the final three points of the game.

ECHS took the lead with just under a minute to play when Hannah Clemmons hit a three pointer for the Lady Wildcats. Each team came up empty on subsequent possessions, and BCHS rebounded an Edmonson miss with under 20 seconds to play. BCHS took the ball to their end of the floor and found Madeline Drake open in the righthand corner for a three pointer. Drake shot the ball with 7 seconds on the clock, but missed. That’s when Graham grabbed the rebound and put it back in with 4 ticks remaining on the foul, and was fouled on the play. Coach Mike McClintic called timeout to try to ice Graham at the free throw line. Following the timeout Graham made her freethrow, then watched as Edmonson County’s last ditch shot fell short. The Lady Bears had survived to get their third win of the season by the final score of 50-48.

After the game Coach Christy Clark praised her girls for playing hard. “We really came out and played the way we know we can. I’m proud of all these girls for the way they’ve stepped up this year,” said the coach.

The Lady Bears will play Monday night at 6 in round two of the All ‘A’ Tournament. The Bears will face McLean County who had the bye into round two. The game will be broadcast live on AM 1570 WLBQ and on BeechtreeNews.com by clicking on the radio link at the top of the main page.

BUTLER COUNTY SCORING (Unofficial)

Graham-19, Drake-9, Flener-7, White-7, West-6, Turner-2

Score by quarter

BCHS  8  12  16  14  50

ECHS  7    5  15  21  48

The boys from BCHS and ECHS had a tough act to follow on Saturday. BCHS beat the Wildcats in Brownsville on December 15th by a score of 59-47 and came into the game confident they could beat the Wildcats again to advance in the All ‘A’ Tourney.

The game opened with ECHS owning the early minutes of the contest. Josh Milam and Chase Duvall combined for 8 points in the opening quarter to give the Wildcats an early 11-6 lead on the Bears. Cold shooting for BCHS and the inability to stop scoring in the paint limited the Bears in the first period. However stronger defense in the middle and the emergence of Zeke Woodcock in the second period shifted control back to the Bears.

Woodcock had 8 of Butler’s 15 second period points, including a long three-pointer, to shift momentum back to BCHS. Jackson Washer added four points in the period along with good defense and rebounding from Dylan Goodall and Trevor Jenkins. BCHS was able to outscore the Wildcats 15-4 in the period and took a 21-15 lead to the locker room at halftime.

The Bears and the Wildcats battled to near a stalemate in the third period. Cowles and Carnes led way for ECHS in the period, combining for 10 points. The duo was answered by Jenkins, who had 7 points in the period, with a Goodall, and Woodcock adding points and rebounds for the Bears. The Wildcats were able to trim into the BCHS lead, but the Bears still controlled the game 34-29.

The Bears used a balanced scoring attack and commitment to defense to put the Wildcats away in the fourth quarter. Twice the Wildcats seemed poised to mount a charge, but both times a Bear stepped up the slow their efforts. Elijah Flener got a crucial steal and layup with under two minutes to play, and Woodcock was 4 out of six from the free throw line in the period. The Bears outscored the Wildcats 16-12 down the stretch and pulled away to win 50-41. The Bears will play Tuesday night at 6 at McLean County taking on the home town Cougars. The Bears lost to the Cougars 70-56 on January 3rd in Calhoun. The game will be broadcast live on AM 1570 WLBQ and on Beechtreenews.com by clicking on the radio button at the top of the page.

BUTLER COUNTY SCORING (Unofficial)

Woodcock-14, Jenkins-11, Flener-9, Goodall-5, Bratcher-5, Washer-4, Thomas-2

Score by quarter

BCHS  6  15  13  16  50

ECHS  1   14 14   12  41

Story by Joe K. Morris, Beech Tree News