Taylor County girls finish perfect season with A-Public title

Taylor County finished off a perfect season on Thursday as the Lady Vikings claimed their 11^th state title after holding off Turner County, 67-54. It was a nip and tuck first quarter as both team’s stars went at it. Kelsie Towns kicked off the game with a three pointer to give Taylor County an early lead. The Lady Vikings (31-0) pressed and trapped to try and disrupt Turner County’s offense but star guard Mylashia Yancey was up to the task. The junior scored 10 first quarter points as the Lady Rebels (28-3) entered the second quarter tied at 14-14.

The Rebels held a late 14-11 lead in the first quarter before Taylor County exploded. The Lady Vikings went on a 27 to 5 run to push the lead to 38-19. The pressure defense finally started to force turnovers and took the ball out of Yancey’s hands. Turnovers led into easy buckets as Taylor County continuously launched the ball deep over Rebel defenders’ heads on run outs. Turner managed to stem the tide at the end of the half and entered the break trailing 41-24.

As poorly as the Lady Rebels played in the second quarter, Coach Tasha Kimble’s team played that well in the third. A furious rally led by Mylashia Yancey who scored 11 points in the quarter brought the game to 54-43 after Taylor County was outscored 19-13 in the frame. Yancey slashed into the lane for floaters and layins to help claw the Rebels back into the game after trailing 41-19 at one point. She would finish with 28 points and 15 rebounds.

At the 7:01 mark of the fourth quarter, Turner County had cut the lead to single digits for the first time since the second quarter at 56-47. A crucial Mariel Towns putback at the 3:25 mark extended the Viking lead to 58-49. From that point on, Rasheka Simmons and Kelsie Towns managed to put the game away. Simmons who entered averaging 17 points, five rebounds and five assists, streaked into the lane for tough layup after tough layup to finish with 18 points on the night including 9 of 12 from the foul line.  As well as Simmons played, it was Towns who carried the load for the majority of the night. The junior banged home four 3-pointers en route to finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds. When asked how it felt to bring home the state title, Towns proclaimed, “It feels so good. I’m speechless”.