15TH REGION TOURNAMENT: Belfry holds off Johnson Central to advance

PIKEVILLE – Belfry’s Katie Ball hit a short jumper falling away from the basket with 22 seconds remaining to provide the Lady Pirates with the margin needed to escape Johnson Central, 53-52, in the girls’ 15th Region Tournament thriller played at the Appalachian Wireless Arena on Tuesday night.

Ball finished with a game-high 26 points, 17 rebounds and five block shots as the Lady Pirates (16-14) advanced to the semifinals Friday night against defending champion Pikeville.

Kyera Thornsbury followed with 12 points and hit some clutch shots in the win.

Johnson Central, which saw its season end at 16-15, battled to the end. Sammi Sites paced the Lady Eagles with 20 points and Kelci Blair followed with 19.  

At Pikeville

(15th Region Tournament)

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

JC (16-15)….15  3  14  20 – 52

BF (16-14)…10  12  15  16 – 53

Scoring:

Johnson Central (52) – Kelci Blair 7(1) 2-2 19; Sammi Sites 5(2) 4-5 20; K.K. Vannoy 0(2) 0-0 6; and Faith Fairchild 3 1-2 7. Totals: 15(5) 7-9 52.

Belfry (53) – Kyra Justice 3 0-0 6; Linzee Phillips 1 0-1 2; Cushi Fletcher 1 1-2 3; McKenna Sullivan 1 0-0 2; Kyera Thornsbury 5 2-3 12; Alyssa Varney 1 0-0 2; and Katie Ball 9 8-9 26. Totals: 21 11-15 53.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Todd Conley)