Green County 57, Ballard Memorial 33

RICHMOND, Ky. — This wasn't the kind of history Ballard Memorial wanted to repeat.

A year after the Lady Bombers were thumped in the quarterfinals of the All A Classic state tournament, they can be forgiven if they felt they were following the same tired and depressing script.

The return visit to Eastern Kentucky University's McBrayer Arena resulted in Thursday's 57-33 loss to Green County, giving Ballard coach Kevin Estes an eerie, sinking feeling.

"It's eerie how it worked out," Estes said. "It started with the same bus driver we had last year when we came up here. Last year, we beat a blue-and-white team in the first round and scored 56 points, then got beat by a green-and-(gold) team.

"Both games went kind of the same way, too. We missed a bunch of shots early, layups and free throws, and we lost a lot of confidence."

Following in the footsteps of last season's 53-37 loss to Cumberland County, the Lady Bombers (16-6) were out of the game by the middle of the second quarter. Green (17-3) started the game with an 11-0 run, then put it away with a 19-0 run that took up most of the second quarter.

Ballard missed 16 of their first 17 shots from the field and was 3-for-13 from the foul line in the first half — with less than two minutes remaining before the break, Ballard had committed 14 turnovers and trailed 36-6.

"That's about as well as we can play," Green coach Chris Blaydes said about his team's first-half performance. We shot 55 percent from the field, forced them into some turnovers and our big girls got out and ran the floor and got us some easy baskets."

Green moved on into Thursday night's semifinals against Sheldon Clark, a 66-47 winner over Gallatin County. Lexington Christian and Newport Catholic collide in the first semifinal, and the championship game is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Estes was also impressed by Green's offensive prowess. Freshman guard Micah Jones, who had 27 points and 14 rebounds in a first-round win over Elliott County, led the Lady Dragons with 14 points and four assists, going 5-for-7 from the field, and center Kelsey Mitchell chipped in with 13 points.

Candace Bryant, battling some illness, led Ballard with 14 points, and Abby Shelley had seven points and 10 rebounds.

"My goodness, they have more firepower than I thought they did," Estes said. "I think they're going to be in the finals, and I think they could give (tournament favorite Lexington Christian) a pretty good battle."

Ballard also could have used a little more time off after Wednesday night's 56-53 win over Monticello that ended well after midnight local time. The tournament schedule has been revised considerably because of the winter storm that has hit most of the state.

Under the original schedule, Thursday would have been an off-day for Ballard, with its quarterfinal contest played on Friday afternoon.

"We could have used the extra day," Estes said, "and instead, we had to play two games in a little over 12 hours. Candace felt better, but she could have used the rest, too. We were a little flat and we didn't come out with the aggressiveness we needed."

Ballard Memorial (16-6) ... 6 14 25 33
Green County (17-3) ... 17 40 54 57

BALLARD MEMORIAL — Hatley 4, Rodgers, Shelley 7, Bryant 14, Ralph, Tubbs, Mitchell, Hudson 3, Polivick 1, Jones, Burgess, Draper 3, Denton, Naas, Dixon.

Field goals 13/46. 3-pointers 2/10 (Shelley, Draper). Free throws 5/18. Rebounds 40. Fouls 9.

GREEN COUNTY — Hartfield 7, M. Deaton 8, Mitchell 13, Jones 14, R. Deaton 7, Marr 7, Bush 1, Walker, Parrish, Shofner, Gettings, Stumph.

Field goals 22/45. 3-pointers 1/6 (R. Deaton). Free throws 12/17. Rebounds 26. Fouls 12.