Girls’ Sweet 16: Marshall County breaks record en route to first title berth since 1984

A state tournament matchup more than a year in the making went decidedly in favor of a former champion.

The Marshals seldom missed on their way to a record-setting 50-33 win against Henderson County in the second of two semifinals played in the Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 tournament Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena. It set up a Saturday evening title game with Sacred Heart, who won earlier in the day.

The pair of Western Kentucky challengers were supposed to meet in the first round of last year’s tournament on March 12. They were ready to go and in the locker room for that game when it was postponed, and then eventually canceled along with the remainder of the 2020 tournament, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marshall County (25-2) will play for a state title for the first time since 1984, when it won its second of two championships in a three-year span. Sacred Heart has won four titles but is also in the finals for the first time since its last championship, earned in 2004.

The Marshals made all but two of its first-half shot attempts, missing one in each period, to go 11-for-13 . It cooled off in the second half, but just slightly, and finished 17 of 23 overall (73.9%) from field, topping the previous state tournament record of 67.2 percent set by Sacred Heart (41 of 61) in a win over Barren County in 2004.

“They’re good shooters,” said Marshals Coach Aaron Beth, who coached Marshall County’s girls’ golf team to a state title in October. “We’ve worked a lot on shooting the last month. We work on fundamentals every single day. You can’t get away from that. You put fundamentals, you put heart, you put effort, you put good basketball players with quality players, and you get great teams.

“I think we’re the epitome of a great basketball team.”

Henderson jumped out to a 6-2 lead but the Marshals responded quickly, connecting on their first four shots to take a 9-8 lead into the under-3-minute media break. The Colonels (21-5) after making their first three shots missed three straight, but out of the timeout proceeded to make their next three shots before missing three straight again and settling for a 12-11 lead through a quarter.

Jarie Thomas got loose for layups on back-to-back trips to push Henderson’s lead out to 20-16 before a 5-0 run gave Marshall the lead back with 3:09 left in the first half. The Marshals hit their final five shots of the second quarter, with back-to-back buckets by Halle Langhi capping a 7-0 run before Henderson stopped it with a Thomas layup. They led 28-24 at halftime.

Henderson County missed three shots to open the second half before Marshall County was able to get one up, but it eventually extended its streak of makes to eight to build a 34-24 lead. A Savannah Lacer triple — the Colonels’ first of the game — was also their only points in a low-scoring period for both clubs; they trailed 34-27 heading into the fourth.

Conversely, the Colonels barely tickled the net. They made just three shots in the second half and ended 15 of 47 on the day.

“I thought our defense in the second half was superb,” Beth said. “It’s what got us where we are right now.”

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