Hazard’s Hannah Caudill attempts to put up a shot over Shelby Valley’s Isabella Causey Monday night at home.
HAZARD — Once the momentum swings in a game, it’s hard to get it to swing back in your favor.
Hazard was in that position Monday night, but the Lady Bulldogs found a way to swing the momentum back in their favor after giving up an 17-point lead heading into the fourth quarter of play.
Shelby Valley trailed Hazard 49-32 heading into the fourth quarter of play.
The Lady Wildcats opened the fourth on a 19-1 run to take a 51-50 lead with 2:49 left to play.
Hazard somehow fought back to pull out a 57-53 win over the Lady Wildcats.
Luckily for Hazard, Abby Maggard was having a game. She finished with a game-high 29 points in the Lady Bulldogs’ win.
After falling behind 51-50, Maggard responded with a basket to put the Lady Bulldogs back in front 52-51 with 2:35 left to play. Seventh-grader Maddi Frohnapfel followed by splitting a pair of free throws to push the lead to 53-51 with 2:03 left.
Shelby Valley’s Isabella Causey split a pair of free throws with 1:34 left to cut Hazard’s lead to 53-52.
Maggard knocked down one of two free throws for the Lady Bulldogs with 1:32 left, but Causey did the same for the Lady Wildcats with 1:16 left to play.
After a couple of jump balls, Hazard’s Frohnapfel knocked down a free throw with 32 seconds left to give the Lady Bulldogs a 55-53 lead.
Shelby Valley had a couple of attempts to tie things up, but couldn’t come up with a score.
Maggard put the game away with a pair of free throws with just 6.3 seconds left to play.
Hazard’s Abby Maggard fights past the Shelby Valley defense Monday night at Hazard.
Maggard had an outstanding performance to lead Hazard. She scored a game-high 29 points. She was six for 10 from three-point range. She also pulled down seven rebounds. Frohnapfel added 11 points. Hannah Caudill scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds. Laura Everidge added five points and Carlee Davidson scored two.
Looney led the way for the Lady Wildcats with a team-high 23 points. Eighth-grader Miley Riddle had a great game with 15 points. Causey added eight points. Jazzy Meade scored four and Sophie Robinson added three. Shelby Valley was without Sadie Johnson.
Looney started the game off with one of her five threes on the night. Maggard answered back with a three of her own to give Hazard a 5-4 lead with 5:00 left to play in the first quarter.
Maggard knocked down her second three with 2:04 left in the first quarter as the Lady Bulldogs’ lead grew to 13-4.
Riddle answered with a three for the Lady Wildcats late in the first quarter.
Hazard held a 15-7 lead after the first period of play.
Looney added a three to open the second quarter. Causey followed with a basket to cut the lead to 15-12 with 5:44 left.
Maggard fired back with another three with 5:25 left in the first half to push the Hazard lead to 18-12. She knocked down another three with 3:40 left in the first half as the lead grew to 10 (24-14).
Looney answered with another three for the Lady Wildcats to cut the lead to 24-17 with 40 seconds left in the first half.
Maggard ended the first half with another three as Hazard held a 30-21 halftime lead.
Maggard scored all 15 of the Lady Bulldogs’ second quarter points.
Hazard opened the third quarter with a 16-0 run to take a commanding 46-21 lead over Shelby Valley with 3:50 left to play in third stanza.
Shelby Valley fought back and cut the lead to 49-32 at the end of the third. Late in the third, Riddle and Meade had some steals and scored on some easy baskets to give the Lady Wildcats a little momentum going into the fourth quarter.
That momentum was big as Looney opened the fourth with a pair of free throws. Riddle followed by splitting a pair of free throws of her own. Looney and Riddle then added back-to-back baskets as the Lady Wildcats opened the fourth with seven straight points to cut the lead to 49-39 with 5:54 left to play.
After Caudill split a pair of free throws for the Lady Bulldogs, Riddle scored on an offensive rebound putback. Robinson followed with a basket. Looney knocked down another three with 3:55 left. Looney followed it with another basket and another three at the 2:49 mark to put Shelby Valley in front 51-50.
That’s when Hazard responded and pulled the win out down the stretch.
It was the teams second meeting of the season. Hazard picked up a 60-20 win to open the season.
Hazard (10-7) is scheduled to host Barbourville at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.
Shelby Valley (7-9) is scheduled to visit Belfry at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night.
