BY BRIAN HAMILTON
KNOXVILLE – The King’s Academy came into Friday’s road contest needed to beat CAK by at least 16 points to win the district, or a win by 15 or less and a CAK loss to Grace Christian next week to take the district. The former never really looked possible, but the latter did, as the Lady Lions led in the fourth quarter, but TKA ultimately fell 55-48 to take second place in the district.
“We can score the ball, but we’ve got to get stops, and that’s what killed us,” TKA head coach Dante Turnipseed said after the game. “We can’t play from behind against a really good team. They’re going to make runs and if you played your hardest to get it down to four (points), it’s hard to get some more energy and get over the hump.”
TKA’s Skylar Walden (14) goes up for two of her team-high 21 points in the Lady Lions’ 55-48 loss to CAK. Photo by Brian Hamilton
CAK got on the board first with a Colie Thompson layup to take a 2-0 lead. King’s Academy scored on a layup by Adit Kuol, but Karlie Gray answered with a jumper to put the Lady Warriors back in front 4-2.
The Lady Lions took their first lead when Kuol grabbed a rebound and put it back up for a 5-4 advantage with 5:22 left in the first quarter.
Thompson grabbed a steal and raced downcourt for a layup and a 7-5 CAK lead, but Skylar Walden hit a jumper to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:14 to go.
CAK would score on another basket off turnover when Kate Rousayne raced downcourt for a layup after another steal, giving the Lady Warriors a 10-7 lead. Walden sank another jumper to make the score 10-9, but consecutive threes by Thompson gave CAK a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Thompson opened the second quarter with her third three-pointer of the game to put CAK in front 19-9. Rousayne then scored on a steal and a layup, followed by Thompson’s fourth three-pointer of the game, as TKA suddenly found themselves down 24-9 in the blink of an eye.
Kuol hit a pair of free throws to end the 14-0 CAK run and make the score 24-11. From that point, TKA would embark on a 10-0 run of its own, as Walden hit a three-pointer, followed by a layup and three by Olivia Loveday, which cut the Lady Lion deficit to 24-19 with 2:18 left in the first half.
Katelyn Coffman hit a layup to end the TKA run and give the Lady Warriors a 26-19 lead with just over two minutes left. CAK scored another basket off a turnover when Thompson collected a steal and raced the other way for a layup to make the score 28-19 with 1:20 left.
A Walden three, followed by a Loveday layup would close the half on a 5-0 TKA run, as the Lady Lions went to the half trailing 28-24.
Gray opened the third quarter with a jumper to stretch the CAK lead to 30-24 with 6:31 left. Another Lady Warriors basket would push the lead to 32-24 with just over five minutes to go in the quarter.
A pair of layups by Kyle Young and Emily Atchley pulled TKA to within 32-28, but Gray would answer with a jumper to increase the Lady Warrior lead back to 34-28 with 3:04 to go.
Adit Kuol attempts to go up for a basket as CAK’s Colie Thompson (30) and Sophie Carroll (11) defend. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Loveday sank a pair of free throws to cut the TKA deficit to 34-30 and then Jade Dabrowski went down the lane and was fouled on a layup and converted the three-point play to trim the deficit to 34-33 with 2:15 remaining.
A three-pointer by Skylar Walden with 14 seconds left in the third quarter gave TKA a 38-36 lead, their first since 5-4, and the Lady Lions would head to the fourth quarter clinging to a two point advantage.
TKA would open the fourth quarter with a three-pointer by Walden to take a 41-36 advantage, their largest lead of the game, but a pair of CAK layups would quickly trim that lead to 41-40.
Walden came down and made a floater to give TKA a 43-40 lead, but the Lady Warriors answered again with a basket by Rousayne, making the score 43-42.
CAK would retake the lead when Thompson scored on a very easy layup, putting the Lady Warriors ahead 44-43. The game was tied at 46-46 when CAK’s Maddie Braden split a pair of free throws to give the Lady Warriors a 47-46 advantage.
Sophie Carroll then hit a layup and drew a foul, but missed the and-one, leaving CAK clinging to a 49-46 lead. The Lady Warriors scored again on the next possession to take a 51-46 lead with 2:16 remaining and TKA never was able to pull even again, as they could not get tough shots to fall down the stretch.
CAK would go on to win the game 55-48, as the Lady Warriors closed the game on an 11-2 run.
“We had to play so hard to get it close that we just didn’t have legs at the end of the game.” Turnipseed said. “We’ve gotta learn that we can’t let teams get up and then try to play hard from behind, because you’re going to need your legs in the fourth, if it’s a close game, to make those shots.”
During TKA’s run in the late-third and early-fourth quarters, Turnipseed decided to go small, playing without 6-4 Kuol and 6-6 Jenny Bitounou for a large stretch.
“Our guards were showing effort and giving effort, so I thought that was the best thing we could go with,” said Turnipseed. “It worked to a point, but you always need your 6-4 or 6-5 in the game, but I’ve gotta get more from them.”
Colie Thompson led all scorers with 22 points for CAK, while Skylar Walden finished with 21 for TKA. Maddie Braden added 12 for the Lady Warriors, while Olivia Loveday was the Lady Lions’ second leading scorer with 11.
The King’s Academy (20-6, 10-2 Class 1A East Region District 1) will host Polk County (10-7) on Tuesday, February 3, as the Knox Catholic and Hancock County games were canceled due to inclement weather.
CAK (22-2, 12-0 East Region District 1) was scheduled to travel to Grace Christian (19-8, 9-3) on Saturday, January 31, but the game will be rescheduled for a later date due to weather. That game now has no bearing on district standings, as the top three seeds are set.