Right before the 5th Region Girls Basketball Championship game last Tuesday Night at Nelson County High School, Bethlehem girls basketball coach Jason Clark sat back and watched his team warmup about 30-minutes before the game start time. Clark had been around teams that had been in the Winners Circle before and during his time as the Banshees head guy knows what it’s like to be on both sides of the court. In 2019, the Banshees were underdogs against a powerful Elizabethtown team and won their first Region title EVER, then the following year were tabbed as the favorite and lost in their last game. Now, the Banshees were strong and battle tested with a grueling schedule and once again would be the favorite, but standing in their way was the surprising Central Hardin Lady Bruins.
Kristinia Covington-Jones team had suddenly came on strong knocking off the previously unbeaten Lady Panthers in their District final and then beating the team many thought would face Bethlehem in the Championship game (Bardstown) to reach the Region Final for the first time since 2006. Ironically, Covington-Jones knows a little about winning big games as a former player on a State Championship team and she had this team believing they could do it.
So in retrospect, the Banshee’s 67-39 victory, which gave them their second Region Championship in three seasons may be more a study not in offensive strategies, but about DEFENSE. In their last four playoff games, Bethlehem’s “D” had allowed just 39, 41, 31 and 39 points against some pretty effective scorers. Clark’s team’s always seem to have an offensive personality whether it was Miss Basketball Candidates Ella Thompson or Ameila Hodges journey’s to the basket to jump start their quick paced attack or their inside game with their new Twin Towers, but it’s defense which ultimately wins Titles.
The continued improvement of sophomore’s Emma Filiatreau and Xaviara Smalley helped solidify the inside interior defense and it came at just the right time. Against Bardstown in the 19th District Final, the Banshees limited the Lady Tigers to their lowest point total of the season and to 12-of-60 shooting from the floor while pulling down 43-rebounds (20 by Smalley). That game set the pace for the team’s defensive surge come the Region Tourney. Bethlehem drew Elizabethtown in the opening round and drew as close to a packed crowd (as pandemic restrcitions allowed) as the Defense limited the powerful Lady Panthers shooters to 16-of-44 from the field and stifying their dangerous inside game. Against Green County, the defense didn’t allow a single Lady Dragon to score in double figures.
That’s not to say Bethlehem can’t score points. In fact, they can get them from so many different shooters although Thompson and Hodges stand out leading the team in scoring, Smalley has really come on, while freshman Carlie Thurmond has been consistant all season as has Kasey Spalding and Filiatreau in the post.
The Banshee shooters got things going early and built a quick 13-8 first quarter lead, while the Lady Bruins would forgo driving into “No Man’s Land” and hit several big baskets from outside. It was that shift in strategy that allowed Central Hardin to stay close in the first half as they would drive inside then kick it out to open shooters. The Lady Bruins had four threes and all were important early while defensively they stayed with packing inside and making Thompson’s trips inside difficult. A clip to her face late in the second quarter resulted in Thompson shooting free throws with a bloody nose. The physical tactics were producing results as the Lady Bruins trailed only 28-22 at the half. Start of the third quarter, the Banshees went on a 14-5 run to push it to 42-27 at the 2:47 mark of the third quarter and then a 19-11 run late in the fourth at the 2:33 mark as Clark emptied the bench.
Afterwards, Thompson and Hodges took a moment to reflect on their second Region Trophy celebration and where it all started which may have been moments after they lost to Elizabethtown almost a year ago at Thomas Nelson high school. The long offseason, the pandemic situation and the late start January 2021. Then there was the schedule of Top Ten opponents, their first loss of the season against Boyd County followed by the 14-point meltdown against Bardstown just two days later during a period where the Banshees were facing six opponents during a two week period (many Top Twenty quality). After a one-point loss to Top Ranked Anderson County on the road , Bethlehem would go 14-1 the rest of the way. During that time, Clark began working Smalley into the lineup and Filiatreau began coming out of a shooting slump. Thurmond was getting a reputation as a tenacious defender on their press, Spalding continued giving her usually effective quiet performance on the court and the continued development of junior Bailey Bishop (another of the unsung contributors) as a key role in the bench rotation as is Clarks’ Freshman corps of Kensey Clayton, Ashlyn Miles, Hallie Hurst, Khloe Young and eighth-grader Tessa Miles . Let’s not forget that Bethlehem had to replace two graduated starters from last year’s squad in Baeli Young and Mikah Livers-Bryant which is why the development of Thurmond, Filiatreau and Smalley was so crucial strengthing their bench and happened during a pandemic situation and why Clark scheduled one of the toughest schedules in the team’s history to simulate a State Tournament scenario. In a season in which you have everything to lose because your expected to win, you have to win four games against four great teams to be the last team standing so playing the likes of Sacred Heart, Marshall County, Ryle, Boyd County, Bowling Green, Anderson County, Breckinridge County, Apollo, Mercy, DuPont Manuel along with Region rivals Bardstown and Elizabethtown really prepared them for this night.
For Covington-Jones, there may have been some saddness from the loss, but how could she not possibly be smiling after how far she and this team had come. From the ruins of three straight six win seasons from 2013-2014-2015 when nothing seemed to go right to two straight Region appearances the past two seasons and then this season in which she pushed and prepared her team not to just make a serious push, but to win it all. Back in August, several of her players said she had them convinced that this was the year they would finally not only play well against district power Elizabethtown (her former school), but do something they hadn’t done in 13-years. Going into their District Final several weeks back, there probably weren’t many that were convinced it could happen. Then it DID. Coming off that emotional high, the Lady Bruins went out and pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the Region tournament with a 61-59 win over a Bardstown team which defeated them handly by a ridiculous 23-points back in January. Although Bethlehem was simply too tall a task to accomplish, Central Hardin will be in good shape next season with most of their starting lineup back and another chance to make another run to the Region Title.
While the the Banshees took time during the net cutting ceremony to pose for photos and give interviews, it dawned on me that when both Hodges and Thompson won their first Region Title as sophomores, the Banshees had only two seniors in Maddie Sparks and Carly Beam. Those two did not know what it was like not to win a Region title as a varsity player in soccer as they were a part of four straight Title runs, yet they still considered the Basketball 2019 run as most memorable because it happened so suddenly and quickly. Now, two years later, it’s Hodges and Thompson who are the seniors and one of the last links to that team. Next season, Bishop and Spalding will be the only two seniors and the last of that group. Pondering how the last three seasons went so fast and what this last run means not to just them, but to future Banshee teams that aspire to be great like the Elizabethtown and Marion County teams that they followed I couldn’t help but notice how young the rest of the team had gotten during the past season.
The 67-39 victory gave Bethlehem the right to return to Rupp Arena and their journey will continue against Bullitt East on next Thursday at 2:00. Then we’ll see just how much what happens from last March to the present will make a difference in Lexington, KY next week. If it’s really true Championships are won during that time, then the Banshees had a great education.
