Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

For more local sports coverage, visit our partners at Harlan County Sports.

By John Henson 

Contributing Sports Writer

A trip to the state All “A” Classic was a regular part of the schedule for the Harlan Lady Dragons during Mackenzie King Varner’s playing career. Harlan made four straight trips from 2014 to 2017.

Varner has led the Lady Dragons back after a seven-year absence in her first season as coach. One night after knocking off two-time defending champ Jackson County, Harlan had no trouble in the championship game with a 71-34 rout of tournament host Barbourville.

Junior forward Kylie Noe led a balanced Harlan attack with 23 points. Aymanni Wynn and Peyshaunce Wynn added 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Sarah Smith paced the Lady Tigers with 17 points.The 11-5 Lady Dragons play at Bell County on Tuesday and Harlan County on Friday.

Lady Dragons move into finals with upset of defending champs

After hard-fought losses the past two years to Jackson County in the 13th Region All “A” Classic finals, the Harlan Lady Dragons finally broke through Thursday with a 60-57 win over the Lady Generals in the semifinals at Barbourville High School.

“I’m very proud of them. They have been so close for so long,” said Harlan coach Mackenzie King Varner, who was a junior forward when Harlan made its last state All “A” Classic appearance in 2017. “They put all the pieces together to get the job done, and I’m so excited for them.”

The Lady Dragons’ big three of Kylie Noe, Aymanni Wynn and Emma Owens combined for 59 of 60 points as Noe scored 27, Owens added 17 and Wynn chipped in with 15. Noe was all but unstoppable inside as she continually muscled her way to the basket by hitting 12 of 17 shots. The Lady Dragons won despite missing all 14 attempts from beyond the 3-point line.

“We knew the baseline would be open and we’d get layups because they play that soft 2-3. We came in knowing if we got the ball in the paint we’d score,” Varner said. “They tend to foul, so we knew if we were aggressive we would score the ball.”

Harlan (10-5) also had a strong game on defense and dominated on the glass with a 29-16 advantage.

“We battled, and that was the biggest thing we wanted to do. We put pressure on the ball,” Varner said. “We knew they had some good 3-point shooters, and they hit a few. We stepped up and did our jobs on defense.”

Junior forward Abby Gilbert led the 10-5 Lady Generals with 29 points. Kylee Shannon added 12 points.

The Lady Dragons will be a big favorite for their first regional All “A” title in seven years after a 17-point win over Barbourville earlier this month.

“We’re in a great position. We knew the semis would probably be our hardest game,” Varner said. “We’re not overlooking anything though. We have to show up and do our jobs.”