Raceland rallies past Southern
Madison Southern couldn’t find a way to stop Rachel Vanderhoof and simply was unable to hit a free throw, especially at key moments.
Vanderhoof scored a game-high 33 points as Raceland rallied for a 50-46 win Saturday over the Lady Eagles (5-7) in the third-place game of the Madison Southern Holiday Classic. Southern had a three-point lead late, but the Lady Rams scored 10 of the game’s last 13 points to secure the win.
“If we would have hit our free throws, we would have won the game,” Southern coach Brian
Cunigan said. “We played well enough to win, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”
Southern was just eight-of-19 from the free throw line and shot only 32 percent from the field (20-of-62). Senior standout Nikki Jeck once again led the Lady Eagles, pouring in a team-high 20 points, but Vanderhoof led the charge as Raceland rallied late.
After Brittany Calhoun gave Southern a 43-40 lead, Vanderhoof hit a pair of free throws, then put the Lady Rams back in front with a pair of back-to-back
put backs. The Lady Eagles got back to within two points late (48-46), but Vander hoof
once again connected on a pair of free throws to seal the victory. Calhoun had seven points before fouling out, Kassie Damrell had 12 points and six rebounds, Candace Himes had four points and Courtney Harold finished with three points. Jeck also had five assists, seven steals and five rebounds.
The senior is now just 43 points away from eclipsing the program’s all-time scoring mark and is just 134 points away from becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer.
In the final game of the round-robin portion of the tournament, Southern blasted Barbourville, 77-36, Saturday afternoon in Berea.
Jeck had 20 points, Harold hit five three pointers and finished with 19 points and Damrell had 15 points. Calhoun added 11 points as the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 18-6 first-quarter lead.
Southern returns to action Thursday at Frankfort.