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Going into Tuesday night, the East Jessamine girls’ basketball team was enjoying a season to remember as the Lady Jaguars had posted a school-best 17-win season. On Tuesday against the Burgin Lady Bulldogs (14-14), East Jessamine (17-9) had a game it would rather forget as the Lady Jags fell 48-31 in the first round of the 46th District tournament.
“It was just one of those nights where nothing went right,” East coach Jacqueline Coleman said. “It was one of those things where you don’t really know how to coach them out of it.”
East opened the game searching for rhythm on offense, but when freshman Emma Young went to the bench with foul trouble midway through the opening quarter, the Lady Jags found themselves in a quick hole at 8-2 following a bucket by Burgin’s Summer Burke.
Coleman said Young’s early exit hindered the Lady Jaguars’ game plan.
“Emma Young got into foul trouble early, so she had to sit for most of the first half,” Coleman said. “She had to sit for half of the first quarter and all of the second quarter.”
With Young on the bench, East managed to scrap and claw its way back into the game and tied it at 10 following a basket by Sarah Rainwater.
Turnovers plagued East throughout the first quarter as it had seven miscues in the first quarter and 19 for the game.
The second quarter was played at a snail’s pace as both teams combined for 16 points.
A three-pointer by Burgin’s Taylor Sanders gave the Lady Bulldogs their largest lead of the first half at 21-12. East countered moments later with a three-pointer by Rainwater to trim the lead to 21-15 at the break.
During the game, East Jessamine players seemingly couldn’t buy a basket as near-misses flirted with the rim only to bounce out.
This carried over into the second half for the Lady Jags once Young re-entered the game.
“When she came (in the game) in the second half, things weren’t really clicking,” Coleman said. “We had a lot of shots that didn’t fall, and we missed a lot of layups that we don’t usually miss. Normally our defense creates our offense, but we had a tough time getting set and on the same page.”
Defensively, East Jessamine went to a zone in an attempt to slow down Burgin’s inside game. But the Lady Bulldogs countered that move with a three-pointer by Sanders to open up a 26-17 advantage.
Following the three-pointer, Burgin guards began to find cracks in the Lady Jags defense and rattled off three straight buckets to seize a 32-17 lead following a score by Libby Dismeaux.
“When we (went) zone, that was to defend the paint, and that didn’t happen,” Coleman said. “By that point, you’ve got to change your defense again, and it was one of those things where it really didn’t matter what we did; nothing was going our way.”
With East reeling, the Lady Bulldogs pushed the lead to 36-19 following a layup by Liz Marcinek with 1:48 left in the quarter. East Jessamine trimmed the lead to 12 at 36-24 following a Young three-pointer and layup just before the quarter ended.
With its season on the line, East began using trapping defenses in the final period, but time and again, Burgin managed to defeat the trap, and when East did come up with a turnover, the ball simply refused to go in.
East Jessamine never got any closer than 11 points in the final frame as Burgin eventually pushed the lead out to a 17-point victory.
Emilie Hatfield led East Jessamine with 12 points, while Young finished with nine. Rainwater chipped in five points.
Burke and Dismeaux lead Burgin with 11 and 10 points, respectively.