Third quarter run dooms Pulaski in loss to North Laurel

Feb. 13—LONDON — It was a battle between two top programs on Monday night as the Pulaski County Lady Maroons made the trip to take on the North Laurel Lady Jaguars. The Maroons were hoping for a quick bounce back after another loss to Southwestern on Friday and needed to quickly put that rivalry game out of their minds playing the top team from the 13th Region.

Pulaski was in the game, at least for a half of action. The Jags outscored their opponents 18-7 in the third though and despite an attempt at a comeback, the Lady Maroons didn't have enough on this night as they fell 59-43.

Junior Brooke Nichelson had the first basket of the game early on to give North Laurel a lead that they never surrendered for the entirety of the contest. Following three-pointers from Nichelson and senior Jaelyn Black, the Lady Jags had a 9-0 lead that was threatening to get out of hand.

The Maroons scored six straight points however to force a timeout by North Laurel, with Brooklyn Thomas scoring four and Sydney Martin adding her first two points of the game. Haley Combs had a steal and a two before another basket from Thomas brought the quarter to a close, with the Jags on top 11-8 after the first eight minutes.

Another North Laurel run began the second quarter, as Black, Combs and freshman Mariella Claybrook all scored on two-pointer early on. Taylen Ralston got the Maroons on the board in the period with a three. A basket inside from senior Chloe McKnight and a three from senior Gracie McKnight pushed the North Laurel lead to 22-11.

Martin got herself going finally with five straight points to cut that lead down to 22-16. Nichelson scored five more points before the end of the period before a last-second basket inside from Bella Stevens put Pulaski down at 27-20 going into the locker room.

It didn't take long for the Lady Jaguars to push their lead to double figures in the second half, as Nichelson scored five straight to make the lead 32-20. Martin had two made free throws to get her team on the board in the third, although that was followed by seven straight points from North Laurel to make their lead grow to nearly 20 points at 39-22.

Thomas and Martin added a combined five more points in the quarter, but overall the Pulaski offense couldn't get anything going in the period, only scoring seven in eight minutes. Conversely, the Lady Jags couldn't miss from the field in the period, scoring 18 points. Black was on fire hitting three from long range and the lead had stretched to 45-27 for North Laurel heading into the final eight minutes.

Not only did the offense step up for Pulaski to begin the fourth quarter, the defense did as well, as the Maroons went on a 9-0 run to trim their deficit down to 45-36. Madeline Butcher had her first six points of the game during the run, with Martin nailing a shot from downtown. Chloe McKnight finally ended the visitors' scoring run with a made basket inside.

North Laurel then began to run some clock and focus on their inside game, with Chloe McKnight dominating the paint in the period with eight points. Thomas and Martin each hit shots from three-point range in the final minutes but again the Maroons just couldn't stop the offense of the Jags. Combs scored four more to clinch a 59-43 victory for North Laurel at the expense of Pulaski, who fell for a second-straight contest.

The Lady Maroons were led by Martin with a game-high 21 points, as well as 11 from Thomas. Other scorers included Butcher with six, Ralston with three and Stevens with two. North Laurel was led by Nichelson with 19 points.

Pulaski falls to 19-7 and will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Meade County Lady Waves. This will also be senior night for the Maroons, with tip scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

Jacob Pratt is the Sports Editor of the Commonwealth Journal and can be reached at jpratt@somerset-kentucky.com.