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By John Henson

Contributing Sports Writer

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

Harlan County closed the regular season against the 13th Region’s top team and stayed close until the final minutes before falling 57-47 Thursday to visiting North Laurel.

Chloe McKnight scored 17 to lead the 24-5 Lady Jaguars. Brooke Nichelson and Marielle Claybrook added 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Ella Karst scored 21 points and Cheyenne Rhymer added 12 to lead the 16-13 Lady Bears.

North built a 14-8 lead after one quarter and a 29-18 advantage by halftime. The Lady Jags’ lead was 47-29 after three quarters as Chloe McKnight had eight points in the period.

Rhymer heated up in the fourth quarter, scoring nine points on four baskets as the Lady Bears made a late run.

Lady Bears overcome slow start to defeat Lynn Camp on Senior Night

Up by only four points midway through the third quarter against a Lynn Camp team they beat by 33 points in December, the Harlan County Lady Bears came alive in time to take control on the way to a 53-28 win last Tuesday.

Senior forward Paige Phillips and senior guard Ella Karst led the second half surge for the 16-12 Lady Bears. Phillips pulled down eight rebounds in the third quarter after the Lady Bears had been outrebounded 21-8 in the first half. Phillips finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Karst hit all four of her shots in the fourth quarter to finish with 25 points.

“Paige was huge for us tonight,” said Harlan County coach Anthony Nolan. “I knew it was going to be emotional tonight with Senior Night. It always is. We talked at halftime about how we had to be more aggressive, especially on the boards. We know we have to put four quarters together from here on out.”

The one stat that helped the Lady Bears overcome their problems on the boards and in shooting was the turnover differential. Lynn Camp turned the ball over 30 times, compared to only three for the Lady Bears, who took 63 shots compared to 31 for the 3-23 Lady Cats.

Madison Weymers scored nine to lead Lynn Camp. Lauren Partin and Sayde Mobley added eight each.

Karst had five of the Lady Bears’ baskets in the first quarter as Harlan County took a 17-9 lead. Harlan County hit only three of 12 shots in the second quarter as Lynn Camp cut the deficit to 24-20 by halftime. Weymers and Partin each had two baskets in the quarter.

Phillips took over in the third quarter with three baskets as the Lady Bears extended their lead to  37-24. Harlan County closed the game with a 25-4 run over the final 12 minutes.