Lady Titans win 12th straight district title

Channing Lewis, Timberlynn Yeast and Stevie Shepherd named to All-Tournament Team

Arpan Dixit
Herald Staff
sports@harrodsburgherald.com  

Another year, another district title for the Mercer County Lady Titans (22-8) after they defeated the East Jessamine Lady Jaguars (10-17) by a final score of 69-33 on Thursday, Feb. 27, at East Jessamine High School.

Senior Channing Lewis, junior Stevie Shepherd and freshman Timberlynn Yeast were named to the all-tournament team after their performances against Burgin and East Jessamine.

Lewis was the top scorer for the Lady Titans, finishing with a double-double, pouring in a game-high 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks.

Yeast also finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Lewis and Yeast have been stuffing the stat sheet all season long and the Lady Titans will need more of that as region play approaches.

Shepherd, who was a sniper from beyond the arc, finished with 14 points, nine of them coming from three.

Freshman Lindsay Jessie was the last Lady Titan in double digits with 10 points to go along with two steals.

Mercer County’s head coach, Hayley Spivey, talked about winning the program’s 12th straight district crown.

“It’s become a tradition here. We take great pride in winning the district and to be able to win for 12 straight years says a lot about our program and a lot about the past players we have had here,” said Spivey. “It’s about not taking anything for granted. You have the opportunity to do this and compete at this level and just how important it is to do this as a stepping stone heading into region play.”

After Lewis hit her first triple in the first quarter, it forced East Jessamine Head Coach Steve Bridenbaugh to call a timeout with his Lady Jaguars down 11-2.

Senior Calicia Smith checked in and immediately made an impact, getting a steal and forcing a 5-second violation. Mercer County cruised to a 17-4 lead after one quarter.

Mercer County’s hot start continued, especially from beyond the arc. Shepherd, who hit all of her three pointers in the first half, sunk her third from the corner, right in front of the Lady Titan bench, to give her team a 38-15 lead with just under one minute left in the first half. Spivey said this was one of Shepherd’s best games this season and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

“That’s what we’ve been asking her to do is just be aggressive. She’s going to have to be able to hit two or three three pointers a game to pull the defense out a little bit,” said Spivey. “We’ve been challenging her with that. We told her that if you’re open, you have to shoot it. She did that tonight and didn’t hesitate and she was active on both ends of the floor.”

Shepherd also had five steals.

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