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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINEVILLE \u2014 Whitley County opened Kentucky 2A Section 7 Tournament play with a convincing 55\u201332 win over McCreary Central on Saturday, improving the Lady Colonels to 5\u20136 on the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whitley County jumped out to a strong start before adjusting defensively in the second half to pull away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The win sends the Lady Colonels into a Monday matchup against Bell County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maddy Hopkins led the way with a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Jonna Rice added 13 points and nine rebounds while Baylee Cox turned in a highly efficient performance, scoring 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and pulling down seven rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whitley County coach Ronnie Collier said he was pleased with how his team responded after some early adversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was good to get a win today,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like we started out strong in the first quarter, but McCreary shot us out of our zone in the second and cut into our lead. We went man in the second half and were able to pull away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJonna had a great game scoring 13 points and nine rebounds, and held Creekmore scoreless in the 2nd half,\u201d he added. \u201cJaylee Cox played great as well, scoring a career high 18 points, 7-of-8 from the field, and had seven rebounds. Maddy also had a big game. She ended up with a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. We don\u2019t have time to enjoy this one because we have to get prepared for a really good Bell County team that we\u2019ll play Monday. Go Colonels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n