KHSAA Girls Sweet Sixteen – Grayson County fights hard, but falls!
There is a first time for everything and you always remember it. First day of high school. First car. First date. first kiss and your first trip to the Girls State Basketball Tournament. For Grayson County’s girls basketball program, the first time was something very special for a group of girls that were breaking ground for the next group that was coming through. All week, during their journey players like Grace White, Allie Horton and Shannon Smith were drinking it in as they were the FIRST team from the Lady Cougar basketball team to win a 3rd Region Tournament.
White, a senior and part of the varsity team since being a middle-schooler, was asked what it meant since so many teams and girls that had come before her and tried and were unsuccessful in their attempts to get there and if she tried to enjoy the experience along with the journey. She implied that it was kind of a journey in that all the things and events during the season like the strange late losses and the glories victories simply were a part of it. The Boys program had tasted the state tournament before and now it was the Lady Cougars, who were treated like royalty during the week as they prepared for their first game on the biggest stage of their lives. 
Unfortunately, reality and fate play a very strange game and Grayson County’s opponent, the Covington Holmes Lady Bulldogs showed why they were every bit as good as their 28-wins implied as they threw a net over the Lady Cougars shooters. Grayson County made only 13-of-41 shots from the field and lost in their opening game, 45-32. It was a strange game much like Nelson County’s loss the previous day, when a team with a high powered offense fell victim to the newness of the situation and it showed. The Lady Cougars missed their first nine shots and were lucky to be trailing only 8-2 with just 3:46 remaining in the first quarter when junior forward Hannah Saltsman sank a jumper. After Saltsman hit her second jumper with 1:14 left in the opening period, the Lady Cougars only trailed 10-4.
Despite the offensive inconsistency, head coach Daniel Pharris’ team was still very much in it and their defensive sets were causing Holmes to regress with their shooting. The ice cold offenses would not get untracked for either team as the game progressed as Holmes would only hit 3-of-8shots in the second quarter, while Grayson County did hit their next two shots on an Allie Horton 3-pointer and a jumper by White. The Lady Cougars went into halftime trailing 17-14 and very much in it as the game had a rhythm much like their 3rd Region title win over Apollo, 36-31. The second half saw much of the same for the Grayson County as they scored only five points in the third quarter while Holmes started to pull away. After the teams traded baskets, the Lady Bulldogs scored the next 13-points and when up 32-16 before White ended the drought with a jumper with 00:01 left in the third quarter. 
Trailing 32-18, White would score the next five points for Grayson County on an old fashion three-point play and layup. White would finish with a game high 16-points in her final game as a Lady Cougar. Several times, Grayson County cut the lead to 8-points, but could never get closer. Afterwards, several of the players blamed nerves on the slow start. It was definitely not the way that White, Horton or Shannon Smith wanted to go out as they were never able to get untracked, but as the team walked off the floor of the BB&T Arena, several of the players looked up at the scoreboard high atop the arena ceiling. Some may have been looking at the final score or maybe they were just trying to memorize the final image of a memorable season. The final lasting scene of an incredible journey that really started last season in a loss to Owensboro Catholic in the semi-finals of the 3rd Region when the players chose not to let that happen next season and when they could have caved in several times during the season they didn’t.
White, who will be playing in that same arena as a member of the Northern Kentucky Women’s Basketball team soon sent a quiet message to the next group who will be lucky enough to play while wearing a Lady Cougar uniform. “Just keep pushing, don’t quit. That’s all you can do. There’s really no way to prepare for it. you just have to work hard.” That was the best advice from someone, who made the best of her first time.
