By: Mason Branham
for Carter County Times
RACELAND – Leading by a point at the half, West Carter held Raceland to only 12 points in the second half Saturday afternoon and went on to a 20-point win, 61-41.
The lead was still one after a basket by Raceland’s Chloe Collins made the score, 32-31, early in the third quarter.
A basket by Kara Jordan with an assist from Allie Stone were the first of 12 straight Lady Comet points.
Emma Picklesimer broke the West streak with 1:28 left in the period.
Kylie Gilliam’s second put-back basket of the quarter gave West a 48-35 lead after three periods.
A pair of foul shots by West’s Amelia Henderson started a 13-1 run for the Lady Comets.
Alexis Bond closed out the run with a bucket to give the Lady Comets a 61-36 lead and led Coach Faith Conn to replace the last of her starters with 3:40 left in the game.
Emma Broughton made a three-pointer with 3:00 left in the game to end the West scoring streak.
The game did not start well for the Lady Comets.
Raceland came up with a couple of early steals and scored the first five points of the game.
Stone turned a steal into a three-point play to get West on the scoreboard. Jordan hit a three-pointer later, but Raceland was ahead, 12-6, when Conn called a time out.
When the Lady Comets returned to the court, they hit their final seven shots of the period.
West caught up at 14 on a basket by Elizabeth Middleton. A steal and basket by Stone gave West its first lead. Emma Picklesimer tied the game at 16.
Stone scored to end the period with the Lady Comets leading, 18-16.
Jordan grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to start the second quarter.
The lead was either two or four points as the teams traded baskets until there was less than three minutes left in the half.
West (11-6) was the first team to score twice in a row. Back-to-back baskets by Stone gave the Lady Comets a 26-20 lead.
Raceland (5-11) answered with five points to cut the lead to one, 26-25.
The West lead was three before Raceland’s Kieston Smith threw in a wild shot at the buzzer to make the score 30-29.
Stone led all scorers with 26 points.
West Carter 18 12 18 13–61
Raceland 16 13 6 6–41
West Carter (61)–Stone 26, Bond 4, Gilliam 8, A. Henderson 2, Jordan 9, E. Middleton 7, Steagall 5.
Lady Rams (41)–Smith 10, Collins 10, Picklesimer 12, Boughton 2, Garvin 2, Maynard 2.
Raceland Coach Ron Keeton watches as West Carter’s Alexis Bond (5) forces Raceland’s Aiyen Hapney (3) to the sideline. Hapney turns the ball over to West when she dribbles on the sideline. (Photo by Mason Branham, Greenup Gazette) 
Allie Stone (22) of West Carter dribbles by Raceland’s Aiyan Hapney (3) to beat the Raceland press in the first half. (Photo by Mason Branham, Greenup Gazette) 
West Carter’s Allie Stone (22) pulls up for a short jumper from the late in a spree of seven shots in a row made by the Lady Comets to end the first quarter. The Lady Comets did not shoot well from distance in the first half, but they made nine layups. (Photo by Mason Branham, Greenup Gazette)
