By MATT FULTZ / For The Independent
MOREHEAD — Rowan County’s girls Senior Night was in jeopardy of being spoiled by East Carter, but senior Natasha Kissinger was not about to let that happen.
Kissinger, held to four first-half points, exploded for 20 points after the intermission in the Lady Vikings’ 53-44 victory over the East Carter Monday night at Rowan County High School.
“There are a lot of great players in the region and I’m not knocking anyone, but I wouldn’t trade (Kissinger) for anyone in the region, guard, forward, post anybody,” said Rowan County coach Scott Tackett. “She gets it done night in and night out.”
Although Kissinger admitted she had extra motivation to win on Senior Night, she knows that the Lady Vikings have a bigger goal.
“I really wanted to win tonight because it was Senior Night, but this game really doesn’t mean that much to us because we don’t win a trophy for this game,” Kissinger said.
After East Carter scored the opening basket of the second half to tie the game at 25, Rowan County went on a 16-2 run, capped by two Kissinger 3-point baskets, to push the lead to 14 at 41-27.
But the Lady Raiders were not ready to go away. They countered with an 11-0 run of their own. Jessica Marshall connected on consecutive 3-pointers with under a minute to play in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 41-38.
Marshall led the way offensively for East Carter with 17 points.
East Carter had a chance to cut into the lead even further at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Raiders committed three consecutive turnovers. East Carter committed 23 turnovers in all.
“We probably made more bad decisions with the basketball tonight than we have all year combined,” said East Carter coach Hager Easterling. “We battled so hard, but we played so bad.”
East Carter (19-4) closed to within 45-44 with a little over two and a half minutes to play, and after Rowan County missed the front end of the bonus, the Lady Raiders had an opportunity to take the lead. But East Carter would not even manage to get a shot off on its next possession, thanks to another turnover.
Kissinger would take over from there, scoring the final eight points of the game, including six consecutive free throws to seal the victory.
“I knew that I had to put it on my back because we did not want to lose,” Kissinger said.
Kissinger was not the only Lady Viking senior to play well. Kaitlyn Muncy scored 12 points.
“I thought Kaitlyn Muncy did one heck of a job handling the basketball and getting us into our offense and getting to the rim,” Tackett said.
East Carter’s Lakota Burge was the only other player to finish in double figures for the Lady Raiders. She had 12 points and nine rebounds.
