While the McCracken County Lady Mustangs and Mustangs are relatively down compared to recent years, they proved Tuesday night that they are both top contenders in the Second District. They hosted St. Mary High School for a girls and boys doubleheader where the Lady Mustangs secured a 47-20 win to open the night and their male counterparts closed the night with a 52-39 win over the Vikings.
LADY MUSTANGS 47, LADY VIKINGS 20
The first matchup of the 2024-25 season between the McCracken County Lady Mustangs and St. Mary Lady Vikings was the most competitive between the two programs since 2017. And while it was still a 27-point ballgame, the Lady Vikings proved through early defensive tenacity that this year is different.
In many of the previous years, McCracken County came out early, got up by double digits and coasted to victory. That was far from the case Tuesday night as the Lady Vikings held their own with an 11-5 opening quarter score.
Defense was king for both teams as plenty of shots were taken both ways, but few were clean looks to get the points on the board.
The second quarter was where the Lady Mustangs were able to pull away as Ava Hughes found her rhythm to help her team to another 11-point quarter and an eventual personal 24-point night.
Hughes would put up 11 points in the third to help McCracken to a 19-point quarter, while St. Mary continued to find their offensive rhythm with just five points in the frame.
Audrey Sims and Katie O’Neill led the Lady Vikings in scoring with five points each.
While it was Hughes who led the way for the home team, eight different Lady Mustangs contributed to the 47-point night. Skater Houser followed up with six points, both buckets from long range. LeZharia Bolen added five, Ashley Word and Janaye Reed both added three, while Reagan Hill, Anna Hammonds and Arri Brison all had two points.
Behind Sims and O’Neill, another four Lady Vikings contributed on offense. Olivia O’Neill scored four, while Caroline Crider, Olivia Lorch and Kynnlee Brummett all had two.
MUSTANGS 52, VIKINGS 39
To close out the night, the Vikings looked to end a long 19-game losing skid to the Mustangs dating back to 2015, but a strong opening frame from the Mustangs, capped off by strong free throw shooting down the stretch, kept their streak over their district foes alive another game.
A dominant 20-point opening frame spread evenly between Jay Martin, Dylan Jackson and Jackson Diaz made for what looked like an eventual blowout. St. Mary was able to counter with 11 points of their own thanks to sharp shooting from long range by Griffin Mayes and Luke Sims.
Scoring would slow down in the second and third quarters as defenses took over and offensive play got a little sloppy on both sides.
Nonetheless, McCracken held a 28-20 lead heading into the halftime break and maintained their lead throughout the third, always staying one step ahead of the Vikings, forcing them react from behind.
The fourth quarter was where the Mustangs really locked in. Down, 36-27, the Vikings needed the clock to be in their favor so they resulted in the foul game down the stretch. McCracken would nail 8-of-12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter at the hands of Martin, Own Grogan and Garrett Miller.
A 16-12 fourth quarter performance for both scores, would keep the Mustangs on top and help them improve to an even 7-7 record while handing the Mustangs just their third loss of the season, now 10-3.
The Mustangs were led by Dylan Jackson, who dropped 14 points followed by Garrett Miller with 11, Martin with nine, Grogan with seven, Diaz had five and Caden Fulcher, Maxx Tanner and Jace Dawson each had two.
For St. Mary, Mayes led all scoring with 15 points followed closely behind by 13 from Andrew Buckett. Luke Sims added seven and Brett Haas and William O’Neill each had two.