Eagles fall to Scott County in opening round

The Lady Eagles of Madison Southern (12-18) coming off a tough loss to Madison Central Friday night in the 44th district championship had a tougher task ahead of them tonight in the opening round of the 11th region tournament. The Scott County Lady Cardinals (29-2) stood in their way as they looked to advance toward the Sweet Sixteen. Scott County led by Sophomore Morgan DeFoor and Sr Peyton Riddle are the favorites to come out of the 11th region. The young Eagles, with only one senior on their roster in Paige Carter, faced a challenge like they hadn’t seen.

The Game opened with a Scott Co. 6-0 but the senior leader Carter got to the free throw line and knocked down four straight to cut into the lead. A jumper from freshman Samantha Cornelison tied the game at eight. The game remained close, 15-11, but Scott County behind some aggressive defense went on a 19-4 to end the opening quarter and begin the second. That swarming defense forced the Lady Eagles into eighteen first half turnovers resulting in twenty five Cardinal points. Scott County would score twenty four points in the second quarter and take a 48-23 lead into halftime. Southern only shot 4-24 (16%) in the half with those eighteen turnovers. They did however knock down 14-16 from the free throw line. Carter and Cornelison each had six points to pace Madison Southern.

The second half saw Scott County go on a 16-5 run and push the lead out to 64-28. With the game out of reach the Eagles continued to fight back with Cornelison scoring six straight for her team to end the third. The second half Southern shot 7-21 but it was too late as the Cardinals roll to victory 84-45. Eagles shot 11-4 (25%) for the game while knocking down five three pointers. They were forced into 28 turnovers, eighteen steals y Scott County, while Scott Co. shot an amazing 37-70 (53%) from the floor. Scott County outscored the Eagles 52-12 in the paint, and got 36 points off turnovers.

In her final game as a Lady Eagle Paige Carter finishes with 6 points and 2 rebounds. While she may not have scored the most points she was a leader on and off the court for the young Eagles. The Eagles as a team had three eighth graders, one freshman, four sophomores, and three juniors.

Scoring for the Eagles went like this..Paige Carter 6, Samantha Cornelison 12 points and 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Aleigh Richardson 6 points and 2 rebounds, Sunni Walters 6 points and 3 rebounds, Anna King 5 points, Madison Howell with 3 points, Zaria Carter 3 points and 4 rebounds, Emily Rowland 2 points, and Macie Daniels 2.

The future is bright for the Madison Southern with the youth they have but even with the improbable odds of upsetting Scott County tonight this one hurts. Eagles will return to action this summer and look to get better and stronger and in a district, where everyone should be on an even playing field next season, look to compete for another district championship. Thank you for joining me on the ride and look for the rest of our coverage of area teams on wbontv.com as we have the Lady Indians Tuesday night as they play Lafayette and our boys coverage begins Wednesday night.