LONDON — South Laurel continued its strong start to the season Tuesday with a dominant 67-33 win over Harlan County, improving to 3-1 while the Lady Black Bears dropped to 0-3.
The Lady Cardinals established control early, leading 15-8 after the first quarter before using a smothering defensive effort to create separation.
South Laurel held Harlan County to just one second-quarter point, building a 26-9 halftime advantage. The lead grew to 49-22 by the end of the third as the Lady Cardinals’ offense found its rhythm from long range.
South Laurel coach Tod Windlan said his team’s defensive mindset set the tone from the opening tip.
“We came out and set the tone with very good ball pressure and our defensive positioning was very good,” he said. “We did get careless at times with the ball and we have to clean that up. Callie Jones got us going in the scoring column in the first quarter with eight points.”
South Laurel caught fire from deep in the second half, connecting on four 3-pointers during a decisive third quarter stretch.
“In the second half, we came out ran some nice sets and had four 3-pointers in the third quarter with Aubrey Bundy nailing two, Jones had one and Emma Adams had one,” Windlan said.
Windlan also praised his team’s rebounding and balance.
“I thought Ryleigh Bretz and Skeeter Mabe controlled the glass well for us,” he added. “We were led in scoring by Callie Jones with 16 points, Maci Messer had 16, and Aubrey Bundy had 14. Putting three players in double figures makes us hard to defend. I think Aubrey Bundy’s defense tonight was tremendous and her knocking down 3s is a game changer for us.”
Harlan County was led by Kyler Runions with eight points.
