Defense, free throws lead Lafayette girls to district title

Published 9:37 am Monday, February 12, 2018

JASPER, Fla. — Lafayette guard Jasmine Lewis spoke about the importance of competing on defense. LHS coach Jimmy Blankenship said his team has to play defense in order to get things done.     

The Hornets got defensive on Friday to defeat Hamilton County 60-37 for the District 5-1A Championship. 

Lafayette had 15 steals and forced Hamilton County into 26 turnovers. The Trojans, who have plenty of offensive firepower and two big-time scorers, didn’t get many clean looks at the basket. 

Box Score

LHS — Lewis 20, Ellefson 16, Jackson 10, Coverson 8, Massey 4, Lyons 2 

HCHS — Fudge 11, Tucker 8, Lewis 6, Alford 5, McCallum 3, Nixon 2, West 2 

By the midway point of the second quarter, the Hornets had already built up a 12-point advantage. They never let go of the lead.    

“In order to win championships, advance in the playoffs, you have to play defense,” said Blankenship. “We concentrated on taking the looks away. I was very pleased with our defense.”

It wasn’t the full-court pressuring defense that the Hornets have used in the past, but a stifling zone defense mixed in with some box-and-one on HCHS sharpshooter Journey Tucker. Tucker, who scored 16 points against Madison County to help Hamilton advance to the district title game, was held to eight points. 

For HCHS coach Gregory Taylor, it was a combination of factors that led to Thursday’s loss.     

“Box-and-one on my best shooter, that took away from my offense,” Taylor said. “We had too many turnovers. We can’t win ballgames like that. We have to attack the basket.”

Offensively, Lafayette’s aggressiveness led to 39 free throw attempts. The Hornets shot well from the line, making 28 of those attempts (72 percent). LHS also had balanced scoring as Lewis finished with 20 points, Haley Ellefson scored 16 and Khari Jackson added 10 points.

Ellefson recorded 15 rebounds and four steals. Lewis had 11 rebounds and five steals. Kymeisha Coverson made two 3-pointers and recorded eight points. 

Free throws accounted for nearly half of the Hornets’ points.   

“Our foul shooting — which has been off and on all year — was really good tonight. 28 out of 39 is pretty dang good,” Blankenship said.

Hamilton County made one big run in the third quarter to get within single digits of the lead. Kelsionna Fudge (11 points) picked up a steal and finished a fast-break layup to make the score 33-24 with 3:30 remaining. 

Ellefson responded on the next trip down the court, grabbing an offensive rebound and converting on a putback basket. Lewis scored the next three points and then Coverson drained a 3-pointer, and in less than two minutes Lafayette’s lead had ballooned back to 15 at 41-26.  

Lafayette has won two straight district championships and three in the past four seasons. It was Blankenship’s 13th district title with LHS.  

“We’re very proud,” Blankenship said. We’re just as happy for the 13th as we were the first one. We’re thrilled we’re back in the state playoffs and we get to play a home game in front of our fans next week.” 

UP NEXT: Lafayette (19-7) hosts Hilliard on Thursday. Hamilton County (10-11) travels to Hawthorne on Thursday. Both games will be played at 7 p.m.