Lady Jaguars remain unbeaten against regional opponents with 80-72 victory over Corbin

Les Dixon, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
·2 min read

Mar. 6—CORBIN — Two 13th Region heavyweights battled to the end on Friday with Eddie Mahan's North Laurel Lady Jaguars surviving an 80-72 win over Corbin.

The region's top-ranked team led by double-digits in the second half but had to hold off a furious rally by the Lady Redhounds in the fourth quarter to get the eight-point victory.

North Laurel improves to 18-4 and pushed its record against 13th Region teams to a perfect 8-0 while Corbin fell to 14-9 and 9-7 against regional opponents.

North Laurel's junior duo of Hailee Valentine and Emily Sizemore paced the way for the Lady Jaguars. Valentine scored a game-high 27 points while Sizemore added 19 points. Chloe McKnight finished with 15 points and Brooke Nichelson turned in an 11-point scoring effort.

Kallie Housley kept Corbin close with her 22-point scoring effort while eighth-grader Raegan Walker followed with 18 points and Shelby Stewart tallied 14 points.

Corbin's Lauren Faulkner scores all five of her points in the first quarter to give the Lady Redhounds a 14-11 lead. McKnight added five points for North Laurel during the period while Valentine added four points.

The Lady Jaguars were able to claim a double-digit lead in the second quarter after outscoring the Lady Redhounds, 27-13.

Sizemore scored nine points while hitting a 3-pointer and Nichelson knocked down two 3-pointers during the period. Valentine added five points to push North Laurel's lead to 38-27 at halftime.

Housley's seven points in the third quarter combined with Stewart's two 3-pointers cut the Lady Jaguars' lead to 56-48 going into the fourth quarter. Valentine (10 points) and Sizemore (eight points) combined to score all of North Laurel's points in the third quarter.

The Lady Jaguars did just enough to hold on in the fourth quarter to pull off the eight-point win. Sizemore added eight points during the period while Valentine scored seven points.

Corbin's Walker was able to score nine points in the final eight minutes while Housley added seven points.

North Laurel 80, Corbin 72

North Laurel 11 27 18 24 80

Corbin 14 13 21 24 72

North Laurel (80) — Valentine 27, Nichelson 11, E. Sizemore 19, C. McKnight 15, G. McKnight 4, McClure 4.

Corbin (72) — Stidham 4, Housley 22, Faulkner 6, Walker 18, B. Stewart 8, S. Stewart 14.