Nelson County 69 Elizabethtown 56 (5th Region championship)

[Jim Schue]

Very poised performance by the NC girls in winning the school's first region title since 1990. Cards were money from the FT line, hitting 24-for-28, with Marly Walls hitting 13-of-14 in the 4thQ as NC pulled away. Walls finished with 32 points in a monster performance.

 

Her three-quarter court 3 to close out the first half finished off a 17-point first-half performance for the junior. She was matched up with region POY Jada Stinson all game, and completely outplayed her. Stinson had 23, but did most of her damage while Nelson was pulling away late.

 

Nelson senior LeLe Linton also had a huge game with 12 points and 11 boards against the taller E'town interior players. The Cardinals outrebounded the Panthers by 28-26.

 

Nelson Co. returns to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1990. Side note: Marly Walls' mom played on that team.

[Jim Schue]

Some might call Nelson County's win over No. 9 Elizabethtown an upset, but it's not. The Cardinals did beat the Panthers once already this year.

 

It's been pretty darned impressive the way this team has soldiered on through all the midseason drama they went through with the coaching change. The drama brought them closer together, it seems. And to get through a longtime foil such as E'town, who had knocked NC out of the postseason the previous three seasons, was pretty big too.