Lady Rockets upset No. 10 North Hardin in OT

The Shelby County girls' basketball team hit the road and pulled off their biggest upset of the year Saturday with a 62-59 overtime win at North Hardin.

"This was a signature win for us and a great confidence builder," SCHS head coach Sally Zimmerman said. "(North Hardin) has beaten teams that we'll be playing later this year. This really was a big, big win for us."

North Hardin (13-4) is the highest ranked team the Lady Rockets (12-5) have beaten this year, but it did not come without its struggles.

The girls trailed 28-24 at halftime, had to play most of the fourth quarter without leader and point guard Raechele Gray because of foul trouble, and North Hardin had a shot to win the game in regulation.

"We wanted to push them out and make them beat us from the outside," Zimmerman said. "Karissa (Nicholson) did a nice job hedging out off a screen and keeping them from getting inside and then Allison (Morris) came up with a big steal to keep the game tied (at 56-all)."

After that it was all the Lady Rockets as the girls were a perfect 6-6 from the free-throw line, and held North Hardin to just three points in the extra session.

With Gray sitting a good part of the fourth quarter, Zimmerman said she had others step up.

"Of course we don't want Raechele to have to sit, but it was great to see the other girls step up in her place," she said. "We put the ball in Allison (Morris) and Marissa (Raisor's) hands and they really responded well. You could tell that Allison wanted the ball in her hands. We stuck to our game plan, even with Raechele out, and the girls stepped up -- that's huge for the confidence of this team."

Gray and Haleigh LeCompte led Shelby County with 20 points apiece, a career-high for LeCompte.

North Hardin threatened to pull away in the fourth quarter, stretching the lead to eight points behind three three-pointers, but the Lady Rockets didn't flinch.

"They started hitting some shots, and we knew they were capable of that," Zimmerman said. "I call a timeout about midway through the quarter and just asked them 'Is this game over?' After that we settled down and took care of business."

Eminence

The Lady Rockets led 20-0 after and 28-2 at halftime in a 54-18 whipping of Eminence (2-14) Thursday.

The win secured the top seed in the 30th District Tournament for Shelby County.

Haleigh LeCompte led the way with 15 points as the Lady Rockets had 12 players score in the win.

"It was a nice opportunity to get everybody in the game that works hard in practice," Zimmerman said. "And of course it was an important game because of the seeding. We secured the No. 1 seed, and we'll see them again in the district tournament."