The Best Seat in the House

Notes and thoughts on day 3 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Casey County defeated Lincoln County 62-47; Rockcastle County defeated Mercer County 83-42. Casey plays Rockcastle in tonight’s Sunday’s championship game.
• Casey won despite only 10 field-goal attempts in the second half; the Lady Rebels were 27-for-36 at the free-throw line after halftime — when Lincoln drew 21 fouls — and 30-for-41 overall. The biggest of those free throws might well have come when Casey scored nine straight points at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 48-37 lead.
• This was Casey’s second win over Lincoln in two weeks. The Lady Rebels won a regular-season meeting between the two teams 44-38 on Feb. 22 at Casey.
• Lauren Hatter led Casey with 17 points, followed by reserve Nicole Coffman with 15. Megan Pittman added 12 points and eight rebounds. Kendra Brown had 18 points and seven rebounds for Lincoln, and Savannah Lane added 10 points.
• Mercer’s season ended with a blowout loss for the second straight year. It was a 39-point loss to Southwestern in a first-round game last year, then this season’s loss to Rockcastle, for which the die was cast when the Lady Rockets scored the game’s first 15 points. It was 50-29 in the third quarter when Rockcastle scored another 15 in a row to put the game far out of reach.
• Jackie Alexander scored 17 points to become the third different goal to lead Rockcastle in scoring in its last three postseason games. Sara Hammond and Sarah Rowe added 14 points each, and Mary Saylor had 13. Loran Crowell led Mercer with eight points, and leading scorer Hayley Spivey, who averages 19 points per game, had only six.
• The championship game will be the fourth meeting this season between Casey and Rockcastle. The Lady Rockets are the only 12th Region team to have beaten Casey this season, having won 66-57 in the 47th District final. Casey won the two regular-season meetings, 49-45 on the road and 66-52 at home.
• This is Casey’s first trip to the regional finals since the Lady Rebels won their only title in 2000. To do that, they defeated Wayne County 64-51. Rockcastle has reached the regional finals for the second time in three years since joining the 12th Region. Two years ago, the Lady Rockets defeated Lincoln County 52-40 in the title game at Lincoln.
• The Other 15: Girls games in five regions and boys games in two regions were postponed Friday night due to the winter storm. Update: As of 1:30 p.m., today’s games had been postponed in 10 of 13 girls regionals and the only two boys regionals scheduled to play. Revised schedules and start times are available on the KHSAA boys and girls scoreboards. … In the girls 4th Region, Bowling Green upset Barren County 48-43 to advance to the title game against Franklin-Simpson. … In the 13th, Clay County clipped Middlesboro 53-46 to reach the final against South Laurel.